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1899a 
Copy 1 



VANGELINE 



A TALE OF ACADIE 



HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 



Edited with Introduction, Notes and 
a Plan of Study 



W. F. CONOVER. 



CHICAGO: 

A. FLANAOAN, TUBLISHER. 



32428 



Copyright 1899 
by W. F. Conover. 



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EVANGELINE. 



NOTE. 



The distinctive feature of this edition of Evangeline is the 
Plan of Study which forms the latter part of the volume. 

This Plan for the study of ' ' Evangeline ' ' is the out- 
growth of several years' teaching of this delightful poem. 
It has proved successful in securing very satisfactory work 
from classes varying greatly in ability. It has resulted, in 
a considerable majority of cases, in (1) in awakening an in- 
terest in and a love for good literature; (2) opening up the 
field of literature in a new way, and showing that much 
wealth may be gotten by digging below the surface; (3) de- 
veloping a considerable power of discrimination; (4) enlarging 
the pupil's working vocabulary. See "Argument" on page 117. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



NOTE Page 5 

INTRODUCTION. 

The Author " 7 

The Poem "9 

Acadia and the Acadians . . . " 12 

EVANGEI.INE : A TALE OF ACADIE. 

Part the First "20 

Part the Second "60 

NOTES ON EVANGELINE. 

Part One "107 

Part Two "110 

A PLAN OF STUDY. 

Part I "119 

Part II "124 

Part III "142 

Full Table of Contents of the Plan of Study will be 
found on page 115. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Author. 



Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Port- 
land, Maine, February 27, 1807. His father and 
mother were of English stock, his mother being a 
descendant of "John Alden and Priscilla." Stephen 
Longfellow, his father, was a lawyer and statesman. 
Henry's school life began at the age of three. When 
he was six years old he could read, spell and multi- 
ply, and at the age of seven was half way through 
his Latin grammar. He early showed a taste for 
reading, and read not only his father's small stock of 
books, but frequented the Portland Library and book 
stores. " The Battle of Lovell's Pond" was his first 
poem, written when he was thirteen. He entered 
Bowdoin College at the age of fourteen, graduating 



EVANGELINE. 



in 1825. During the latter part of his student life 
there he began to show a considerable literary bent. 
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin, Longfellow 
was elected Professor of Modern Languages in that 
institution. Before entering upon his work, he spent 
three years in study and travel in Europe, returning 
to America in 1829. For five and one-half years he 
taught in Bowdoin, during which time he began seri- 
ous work as an author. In 1834, Harvard called him 
to the chair of Modern Languages. He again made 
a trip to Europe for further study. Longfellow was 
connected with Harvard for nineteen years, resigning 
his position in 1854 to devote his whole time to 
literature. 

His two principal prose works are "Outre Mer" 
and " Hyperion." The latter was followed by a vol- 
ume of poems entitled " Voices of the Night." ^' Bal- 
lads and Other Poems" appeared in 1841, and showed 
much more talent. " Evangeline '' was written in 
1847; "Hiawatha" in 1855, and the "Courtship of 
Miles Standish " in 1857. " Evangeline " and "Hia- 
watha" are considered the best of his longer poems. 
"The Building of the Ship " and " Excelsior " are 
perhaps the best known of his shorter poems. 

Longfellow died at Cambridge in 1882. 



EVANGEUNK. 



The Poem. 



"Evangeline" is considered Longfellow's master- 
piece among his longer poems. It is said to have 
been the author's favorite. Ic has a universal popu- 
larity, having been translated into many languages. 

E. C. Stedman styles it the " Flower of American 
Idyls." 

" Evangeline " is a Narrative poem, since it tells a 
story. Some of the world's greatest poems have been 
of this kind, notably the " Iliad " and the "Odyssey" 
of Homer, and the " Aeneid," of Virgil. It may be 
also classified as an Idyl, which is a simple, pastoral 
poem of no great length. 

Poetry has been defined as " impassioned expres- 
sion in verse or metrical form." All modern English 
poetry has metre, and much of it rhyme. By metre 
is meant a regular recurrence of accented syllables 
among unaccented syllables. " Evangeline " is writ- 
ten in what is called hexameter, having six accents 
to the line. An accented syllable is followed by one 
or two unaccented. A line must begin with an ac- 
cented syllable, the last accent but one be followed 
by two unaccented syllables, and the last by one. 



10 EVANGELINE. 

Representing an accented syllable by O and an un- 
accented syllable by a -, the first line of the poem 
would be as follows: 

O 0--0--0--0 -- O 

This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hem- 
locks, 

'* The measure lends itself easily to the lingering 
melancholy which marks a greater part of the poem." 
" In reading there should be a gentle labor of the 
former half of the line and gentle acceleration of the 
latter half." — Scudder. 



EVANGEIvINE. 



11 




NOVA SCOriA AND VICINITY. 



12 EVANGKLINE. 

ACADIA AND THE ACADIANS. 

Acadia, now known as Nova Scotia, was settled 
by the French in 1607. Many of the colonists settled 
in the fertile region about the Bay of Minas, an arm 
of the Bay of Fundy. One of these settlements was 
called Grand Pre, meaning Great Meadow. The peo- 
ple were industrious and thrifty and they soon attained 
a considerable prosperity. 

During the early period of American History, 
France and England were almost continually at war 
with one another, and in these wars the colonists 
were concerned. At the close of what is known as 
Queen Anne's war, in 1713, France ceded Acadia to 
the English, and it has since remained in their posses- 
sion. Some thirty-five years passed before an Eng- 
lish settlement was made at Halifax, the Acadians 
in the meantime remaining in undisturbed possession 
of the country. Soon after the settlement of Halifax 
trouble began between the rival colonists. 

The Acadians were, as a whole, a quiet and peace- 
able people, content to till their farms and let the 
mother countries settle any disputes. Some of them 
were not thus minded and they succeeded in causing 



EVANGELINK. 13 

considerable trouble. Frequent attacks were made 
upon Halifax by the Indians who were supposed to 
have been aided and encouraged by the Acadians. 
The Acadians had refused to take the oath of allegi- 
ance to the English and this caused them to be re- 
garded with suspicion and fear. They had sworn 
tidelity on the condition that they should not be re- 
quired to bear arms against the French, with whom 
they naturally sympathized, being of the same blood 
and religion. They persistently refused to go further 
and swear allegiance. 

The English were not without blame since it 
must be admitted they had covetous eyes upon the 
rich farms of the Acadians and an opportunity to 
take possession of them would not be unwelcome. 

The strife that had so long been going on between 
France and England to determine which should rule in 
the New World was now at a critical point. England's 
power seemed to be trembling in the balance. Her 
defeat meant great disaster to the Colonies. Alarmed 
by Braddock's failure, the Colonists determined some- 
thing must be done to prevent the Acadians giving 
assistance to the French. To send them to Canada 
would be to strengthen the enemy, while to trans- 
port them to any one of the Colonies would be equally 



14 



EVANGELINE. 




Map of Annapolis and Kings Counties. 



EVANGELINE. 15 

unwise since they would there be a source of danger. 
It was finally decided to scatter them among the dif- 
ferent settlements. An order was issued requiring 
all the males of Grand Pre and vicinity ten years old 
and upwards to assemble in the church to hear a 
Proclamation of the King. Failure to attend would 
result in a forfeiture of all propert}'- of the individual. 
On the appointed day the men gathered in the church 
and heard the Mandate directing that all their pro- 
perty, excepting household goods and money, should 
be forfeited to the Crown and they with their families 
should be transported to other lands. They were 
held prisoners until the time of sailing, the women 
and the children gathering their belongings on the 
beach. The expected transports failed to arrive on 
time and fear of trouble led the English to hurry 
their prisoners aboard the few ships in the harbor. 
These were so crowded nearly all the goods had to be 
left behind, and in the hasteof embarking many fami- 
lies, lovers and friends were parted, being carried 
aboard different ships bound for different ports. 

On October 29th, 17ri5, the Acadians sailed away 
into exile, an "exile without an end, and without an 
example in story." 

There is a considerable difference of opinion as 



16 EVANGELINE. 

to whether such extreme measures were justified. 
The English Colonists evidently felt that it was a 
necessary act, an act of self-preservation. It is, per- 
haps, no worse than many of the horrors of war. On 
the other hand the Acadians had, as a whole, com- 
mitted no overt act of disloyalty, though a few of 
them had done so. Should a whole community thus 
suffer for the wrong doing of a few? This is certainly 
a difficult question. 

Those interested in the subject should read an 
article by Parkman in "Harper's Magazine" for No- 
vember, 1884, where he justifies the action. For the 
opposite view, see "Acadia" by Edouard Richards, 
vol. I, chap. IV. 

The following quotations will be found of interest. 
The first is from Edouard Richards; the second and 
third from two of contemporaries of the exiled Acad- 
ians, Moses de les Derniers and Brook Watson. 

"All that vast bay, around which but lately an 
industrit)us people worked like a swarm of bees, was 
now deserted. In the silent village, where the doors 
swung idly in the wind, nothing was heard but the 
tramp of soldiery and the lowing of cattle, wandering 
anxiously around the stables as if looking for their 
masters The total amount of live-stock 



EVANGELINE. 17 

owned by the Acadians at the time of the deportation 
has been variously estimated by different historians^ 
or to speak more correctly, very few have paid any 

attention to this subject '. . . .Rameau, who has 

made a much deeper study than any other historian 
of the iVcadians, sets the total at 130,000, comprising 
horned cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs." 

Edouard Richard quotes the following from two 
contemporaries of the exiled Acadians. "The Acad- 
ians were the most innocent and virtuous people I 
have ever known or read of in any history. They 
lived in a state of perfect equality, without distinction 
of rank in society. The title of "Mister" was un- 
known aniong them. Knowing nothing of luxury, 
or even the conveniences of life, they were content 
with a simple manner of living, which they easily 
compassed by the tillage of their lands. Very little 
ambition or avarice was to be seen among them; they 
anticipated each other's wants by kindly liberality; 
they demanded no interest for loans of money or 
other property. They were humane and hospitable 
to strangers, and very liberal toward those who em- 
braced their religion. They were very remarkable 
for their inviolable purity of morals. If any disputes 
arose in their transactions, they always submitted to 



18 EVANGELINE. 

the decision of an arbitrator, and their final appeal 
was to their priest." — Moses de les Dernier s. 

"Young men were not encouraged to marry unless 
the young girl could weave a piece of cloth, and the 
young man make a pair of wheels. These accom- 
plishments were deemed essential for their marriage 
settlement, and they hardly needed anything else; 
for every time there was a wedding the whole village 
contributed to set up the newly married couple. They 
built a house for them, and cleared enough land for 
their immediate needs; they gave them live stock and 
poultry; and nature, seconded by their own labor, 
soon put them in a position to help others." — Brook 
Watson. 




\ftfi f ». 




EVANGELINE. 



PRELUDE. 



This is the forest primeval. The murmuring 
pines and the hemlocks, 

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indis- 
tinct in the twilight. 

Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and pro- 
phetic, 

Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on 
their bosoms. 

Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neigh- 
boring ocean ^ 

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail 
of the forest. 

This is the forest primeval; but where are the 
hearts that beneath it 

Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland 
the voice of the huntsman? 

Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Aca- 
dian farmers — 

Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the 
woodlands, ^" 

Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image 
of heaven? „ 



20 EVANGEUNE. 

Waste are those pleasant farms, and tlie farmers for- 
ever departed! 

Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty 
blasts of October 

Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them 
far o'er the ocean. 

Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village 
of Grand-Pre. '' 

Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, 
and is patient. 

Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of wo- 
man's devotion, 

List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines 
of the forest; 

List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy. 

PART THE FIRST. 

vSECTION I. 

In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of 
Minas, '' 

Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand- 
Pre 

Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched 
to the eastward. 

Giving the village its name and pasture to flocks 
without number. 

Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with 
labor incessant. 

Shut out the turbulent tides; but at stated seasons 
the flood-gates ^ 

Opened and welcomed the sea to wander at will o'er 
the meadows. 



EVANGELINE. 21 

West and south there were fields of flax, and orchards 

and cornfields 
Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain; and away 

to the northward 
Blomidon rose, and the forests old, and aloft on the 

mountains 
Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty 

Atlantic ^'^ 

Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from their sta- 
tion descended. 
There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian 

village. 
Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak 

and of hemlock. 
Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign 

of the Henries. 
Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows; and 

gables projecting ^^ 

Over the basement below protected and shaded the 

doorway. 
There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when 

brightly the sunset 
Lighted the village street, and gilded the vaues on 

the chimneys, 
Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps aud in 

kirtles 
Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning 

the golden "« 

Flax for the gossiping looms, whose noisy shuttles 

within doors 
Mingled their sound with the whir of the wheels and 

the songs of the maidens. 



22 EVANGEUNE. 

Solemnly down the street came tlie parisli priest, and 

the children 
Paused in their play to kiss the hand he extended to 

bless them. 
Reverend walked he among them ; and up rose ma- 
trons and maidens, ^^ 
Hailing his slow approach with words of affectionate 

welcome. 
Then came the laborers home from the field, and se- 
renely the sun sank 
Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed. Anon from 

the belfry 
Softly the Angelus sounded, and over the roofs of 

the village 
Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds of incense 

ascending, ^^ 

Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace and 

contentment. 
Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian 

farmers, — 
Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike were 

they free from 
Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice 

of republics. 
Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to 

their windows ; ""' 

But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts 

of the owners ; 
There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in 

abundance. 

Somewhat apart from the village, and nearer the 
Basin of Minas, 



EVANGELINE). 23 

Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of 

Grand-Pre, 
Dwelt on his goodly acjes ; and with him, directing 

his household, ^ 

Gentle Evangeline lived, his child, and the pride of 

the village. 
Stal worth and stately in form was the man of seventy 

winters ; 
Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is covered with 

snow-flakes; 
White as the snow were his locks, and his cheeks as 

brown as the oak-leaves. 
Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen 

summers; ®^ 

Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the 

thorn by the wayside. 
Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown 

shade of her tresses! 
Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed 

in the meadows. 
When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at 

noontide 
Flagons of home-brewed ale, ah! fair in sooth was 

the maiden. ™ 

Fairer was she, when on Sunday morn, while the bell 

from its turret 
Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the priest with 

his hyssop 
Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters bessings 

upon them 
Down the long street she passed, with her chaplet of 

beads and her missal, 



24 EVANGELINE. 

Wearing her Norman cap and her kirtle of blue, and 

the ear-rings ^^ 

Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as 

an heirloom, 
Handed down from mother to child, through long 

generations. 
But a celestial brightness — a more ethereal beauty — 
Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after 

confession. 
Homeward serenely she walked with God's benedic- 
tion upon her. ^° 
When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of 

exquisite music. 
Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of 

the farmer 
Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea; and 

a shady 
Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreath- 
ing around it. 
Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath; and 

a footpath ^^ 

Led through an orchard wide, and disappeared in the 

meadow. 
Under the sycamore-tree were hives overhung by a 

penthouse, 
Such as the traveler sees in regions remote by the 

roadside. 
Built o'er a box for the poor, or the blessed image of 

Mary. 
Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well 

with its moss-grown ^ 

Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for 

the horses. 



EVANGELINS. 25 

Shielding the house from storms, on the north, were 
the barns and the farmyard; 

There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique 
plows and harrows; 

There were the folds for the sheep, and there in his 
feathered seraglio. 

Strutted the lordly turkey, and crowed the cock, with 
the selfsame ^^ 

Voice that in ages of old had startled the penitent 
Peter. 

Bursting with hay were the barns, themselves a vil- 
lage. In each one 

Far o'er the gable projected a roof of thatch; and a 
staircase, 

Under the sheltering eaves, led up to the odorous 
cornloft. 

There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and inno- 
cent inmates ^^ 

Murmuring ever of love; while above in the vari- 
ant breezes 

Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of 
mutation. 

Thus, at peace with God and the world, the 

farmer of Grand-Pre 
Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline governed 

his household. 
Many a youth, as he knelt in the church and opened 

his missal, ^^^ . 

Fixed his eyes upon her as the saint of his deepest 

devotion; 
Happy was he who might touch her hand or the hem 

of her garment! 



26 EVANGELINEl. 

Many a suitor came to her door, by the darkness be- 
friended, 

And, as he knocked and waited to hear the sound of 
her footsteps. 

Knew not which beat the louder, his heart or the 
knocker of iron; "® 

Or, at the joyous feast of the Patron Saint of the vil- 
lage. 

Bolder grew, and pressed her hand in the dance as he 
whispered 

Hurried words of love, that seeme4 a part of the 
music. 

But among all who came young Gabriel only was 
welcome; 

Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil the black- 
smith, "^ 

Who was a mighty man in the village, and honored 
of all men ; 

For since the birth of time, throughout all ages and 
nations. 

Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the 
people. 

Basil was Benedict's friend. Their children from 
earliest childhood 

Grew up together as brother and sister; and Father 
Felician, '~' 

Priest and pedagogue both in the village, had taught 
them their letters 

Out of the selfsame book, with the hymns of the 
church and the plain-song. 

But when the hymn was sung, and the daily lesson 
completed, 



EVANGELINE. 27 

Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil the 

blacksmith. 
There at the door they stood, with wondering eyes to 

behold him ^'^^ 

Take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a 

plaything, 
Nailing the shoe in its place ; while near him the tire 

of the cart-wheel 
Lay like a fiery snake, coiled round in a circle of 

cinders. 
Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the gathering 

darkness 
Bursting with light seemed the smithy, through 

every cranny and crevice, ^^° 

Warm by the forge within they watched the laboring 

bellows. 
And as its panting ceased, and the sparks expired in 

the ashes, 
Merrily laughed, and said they were nuns going into 

the chapel. 
Oft on sledges in winter, as swift as the swoop of the 

eagle, 
Down the hillside bounding, they glided away o'er the 

meadow. *^^ 

Oft in the barns they climbed to the populous nests 

on the rafters. 
Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone, which 

the swallow 
Brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight 

of its fledglings ; 
Lucky was he who found that stone in the nest of the 

swallow ! 



28 EVANGELINE. 

Thus passed a few swift years, and they no longer 

were children. '^^ 

He was a valiant youth, and his face, like the face of 

the morning. 
Gladdened the earth with its light, and ripened 

thought into action. 
She was a woman now, with the heart and hopes of a 

woman. 
"Sunshine of St. Eulalie" was she called; for that 

was the sunshine 
Which, as the farmers believed, would load their 

orchards with apples; ^^^ 

She too would bring to her husband's house delight 

and abundance. 
Filling it full of love and ruddy faces of children. 

Section II. 

Now had the season returned, when the nights 

grow colder and longer. 
And the retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion en- 
ters. 
Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air, from 

the ice-bound, ^"" 

Desolate northern bays to the shores of tropical 

islands. 
Harvests were gathered in; and wild with the winds 

of September 
Wrestled the trees of the forest, as Jacob of old with 

the angel. 
All the signs foretold a winter long and inclement. 
Bees, with prophetic instinct of want, had hoarded 

their honey ^^^ 



EVANGELINE. 29 

Till the hives overflowed; and the Indian hunters as- 
serted 

Cold would the winter be, for thick was the fur of the 
foxes. 

Such was the advent of autumn. Then followed 
that beautiful season, 

Called by the pious Acadian peasants the Summer of 
All-Saints! 

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; 
and the landscape '^ 

Lay as if new-created in all the freshness of childhood. 

Peace seemed to reign upon earth, and the restless 
heart of the ocean 

Was for a moment consoled. All sounds were in 

harmony blended. 
Voices of children at play, the crowing of cocks in 

the farm-yards, 

Whir of wings in the drowsy air, and the cooing of 
pigeons ^^^ 

All were subdued and low as the murmurs of love, 
and the great sun 

Looked with the eye of love through the golden va- 
pors around him; 

While arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet and 
yellow. 

Bright with the sheen of the dew, each glittering tree 
of the forest 

Flashed like che plane-tree the Persian adorned with 
mantles and jewels. '™ 

Now rccomni<-iirc 1 the reign of rest and affection 



30 EVANGELINE. 

Day with its burden and heat had departed, and twi- 
light descending 
Brought back the evening star to the sky, and the 

herds to the homestead. 
Pawing the ground they came, and resting their 

necks on each other, 
And with their nostrils distended inhaling the fresh- 
ness of evening. ^"^^ 
Foremost, bearing the bell, Evangeline's beautiful 

heifer, 
Proud of her snow-white hide, and the ribbon that 

waved from her collar. 
Quietly paced and slow, as if conscious of human 

affection. 
Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks 

from the seaside. 
Where was their favorite pasture. Behind them 

followed the watch-dog, ^^° 

Patient, full of importance, and grand in the pride of 

his instinct. 
Walking from side to side with a lordly air, and 

superbly 
Waving his bushy tail, and urging forward the 

stragglers ; 
Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd slept; 

their protector. 
When from the forest at night, through the starry 

silence, the wolves howled. ^^^ 

Late, with the rising moon, returned the wains from 

the marshes. 
Laden with briny hay, that filled the air with its 

odor. 



EVANGELINE. 31 

Cheerily neighed the steeds, with dew on their manes 
and their fetlocks, 

While aloft on their shoulders the wooden and pon- 
derous saddles, 

Painted with brilliant dyes, and adorned with tassels 
of crimson, '^ 

Nodded in bright array, like hollyhocks heavy with 
blossoms. 

Patiently stood the cows meanwhile, and yielded ttieir 
udders 

Unto the milkmaid's hand; whilst loud and in regular 
cadence 

Into the sounding pails the foaming streamlets de- 
scended. 

L-owing of cattle and peals of laughter were heard in 
the farm-yard, ^^^ 

Echoed back by the barns. Anon they sank into 
stillness; 

Heavily closed, with a jarring sound, the valves of 
the barn-doors. 

Rattled the wooden bars, and all for a season was 
silent. 

In-doors, warm by the wide-mouthed fireplace, idly 
the farmer 

Sat in his elbow-chair, and watched how the flames 
and the smoke-wreaths ^^ 

Struggled together like foes in a burning city. Be- 
hind him. 

Nodding and mocking along the wall with gestures 
fantastic, 

Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away into 
darkness. 



32 EVANGELINE. 

Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back of his 

arm-chair, 
Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates 

on the dresser ^°^ 

Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies 

the sunshine. 
Fragments of song the old man sang, and carols of 

Christmas, 
Such as at home, in the olden time, his fathers before 

him 
Sang in their Norman orchards and bright Burgun- 

dian vineyards. 
Close at her father's side was the gentle Evangeline 

seated, ^ ''' 

Spinning flax for the loom that stood in the corner 

behind her. 
Silent awhile were its treadles, at rest was its diligent 

shuttle, 
While the monotonous drone of the wheel, like the 

drone of a bagpipe, 
Followed the old man's song, and united the fragments 

together. 
As in a church, when the chant of the choir at inter- 
vals ceases, ^'^ 
Footfalls are heard in the aisles, or words of priest at 

the altar, 
So, in each pause of the song, with measured motion 

the clock clicked. 

Thus as they sat, there were footsteps heard, and, 
suddenly lifted, 
Sounded the wooden latch, and the door swung back 
on its hinges. 



EVANGELINE. 33 

Benedict knew by the hob-nailed shoes it was Basil 

the blacksmith, ^^ 

And by her beating heart Evangeline knew who was 

with him. 
"Welcome!" the farmer exclaimed, as their footsteps 

paused on the threshold, 
"Welcome, Basil, my friend! Come, take thy place 

on the settle 
Close by the chimney-side, which is always empty 

without thee; 
Take from the shelf overhead thy pipe and the box of 

tobacco; ^^^ 

Never so much thyself art thou as when, through the 

curling 
Smoke of the pipe or the forge, thy friendly and jovial 

face gleams 

Round and red as the harvest moon through the mist 
of the marshes." 

Then, with a smile of content, thus answered Basil the 
blacksmith, 

Taking with easy air the accustomed seat by the fire- 
side: — "^^ 

"Benedict Bellefontaine, thou hast ever thy jest and 
thy ballad! 

Bver in cheerfullest mood art thou, when others are 

filled with 
Gloomy forebodings of ill, and see only ruin before 

them. 
Happy art thou, as if every day thou hadst picked up 

a horseshoe." 

Pausing a moment, to take the pipe that Evangeline 
brought him, ^ 



34 EVANGELINE. 

And with a coal from the embers had lighted, he 

slowly continued: — 
"Four days now are passed since the English ships 

at their anchors 
Ride in the Gaspereau's mouth, with their cannon 

pointed against us. 
What their design may be is unknown; but all are 

commanded 
On the morrow to meet in the church, where his 

Majesty's mandate ^^^ 

Will be proclaimed as law in the land. Alas! in the 

mean time 
Many surmises of evil alarm the hearts of the people." 
Then made answer the farmer: — "Perhaps some 

friendlier purpose 
Brings these ships to our shores. Perhaps the har- 
vests in England 
By untimely rains or untimelier heat have been 

blighted, '^' 

And from our bursting barns they would feed their 

cattle and children." 
"Not so thinketh the folk in the village," said warmly 

the blacksmith, 
Shaking his head as in doubt; then, heaving a sigh, 

he continued: — 
"Louisburg is not forgotten, nor Beau Sejour, nor 

Port Royal. 
Many already have fled to the forest, and lurk on its 

outskirts. 
Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate of to- 
morrow. 
Arms have been taken from us, and warlike weapons 

of all kinds; 



EVANGELINE. 35 

Nothing is left but the blacksmith's sledge and the 

scythe of the mower." 
Then with a pleasant smile made answer the jovial 

farmer: — 
"Safer are we unarmed, in the midst of our flocks 

and our cornfields, ^^ 

Safer within these peaceful dikes besieged by the ocean, 
Than our fathers in forts, besieged by the enemy's 

cannon. 
Fear no evil, m}^ friend, and to-night may no shadow 

of sorrow 
Fall on this house and hearth; for this is the night 

of the contract. 
Built are the house and the barn. The merry lads 

of the village "^ 

Strongly have built them and well; and, breaking 

the glebe round about them, 
Filled the barn with hay, and the house with food 

for a twelvemonth. 
Rene Leblanc will be here anon, with his papers and 

inkhorn. 
Shall we not then be glad, and rejoice in the joy of 

our children?" 
As apart by the window she stood, with her hand in 

her lover's, ' ^ 

Blushing Evangeline heard the words that her father 

had spoken. 
And, as they died on his lips, the worthy notary en- 
tered. 

Section III. 

Bent like a laboring oar, that toils in the surf of 
the ocean, 



36 EVANGELIlSrB. 

Bent, but not broken, by age was the form of tbe no- 
tary public ; 
Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of the 

• f 270 

maize, hung 

Over his shoulders ; his forehead was high ; and 
glasses with horn bows 

Sat astride on his nose, with a look of wisdom su- 
pernal. 

Father of twenty children was he, and more than a 
hundred 

Children's children rode on his knee, and heard his 
great watch tick. 

Four long years in the times of the war had he lan- 
guished a captive, ^'^ 

Suffering much in an old French fort as the friend of 
the English. 

Now, though warier grown, without all guile or sus- 
picion. 

Ripe in wisdom was he, but patient, and simple, and 
childlike. 

He was beloved by all, and most of all by the chil- 
dren ; 

For he told them tales of the Loup-garou in the 
forest, 

And of the goblin that came in the night to water 
the horses. 

And of the white Letiche, the ghost of a child who 
unchristened 

Died, and was doomed to haunt unseen the chambers 
of children; 

And how on Christmas eve the oxen talked in the 
stable, 



KVANGELINE. 3( 

And how the fever was cured by a spider shut up in 
a nutshell, ^' 

And of the marvelous powers of four-leaved clover 
and horseshoes, 

With whatsoever else was writ in the lore of the vil- 
lage. 

Then up rose from his seat by the fireside Basil the 
blacksmith. 

Knocked from his pipe the ashes, and slowly extend- 
ing his right hand, 

"Father Leblanc," he exclaimed, "thou hast heard 
the talk in the village, ~'^ 

And, perchance, canst tell us some news of these 
ships and their errand." 

Then with modest demeanor made answer the notary 
public, — 

"Gossip enough have I heard, in sooth, yet am never 
the wiser; 

And what their errand may be I know no better than 
others. 

Yet am I not of those who imagine some evil inten- 
tion 

Brings them here, for we are at peace ; and why then 
molest us?" 

"God's name!" shouted the hasty and somewhat 
irascible blacksmith ; 

" Must we in all things look for the how, and the 
why, and the wherefore ? 

Daily injustice is done, and might is the right of the 
strongest ! " 

But, without heedine: his warmth, continued the no- 

' IV ' 300 

tary public, — 
"Man is unjust, but God is just; and finally justice 



38 EVANGELINE. 

Triumphs; and well I remember a story, that often 
consoled me, 

When as a captive I lay in the old French fort at 
Port Royal." 

This was the old man's favorite tale, and he loved to 
repeat it 

When his neighbors complained that any injustice 
was done them. * ^°^ 

"Once in an ancient city, whose name I no longer 
remember. 

Raised aloft on a column, a brazen statute of Justice 

Stood in the public square, upholding the scales in 
its left hand. 

And in its right a sword, as an emblem that justice 
presided 

Over the laws of the land, and the hearts and homes 
of the people. ^'^ 

Kven the birds had built their nests in the scales of 
the balance. 

Having no fear of the sword that flashed in the sun- 
shine above them. 

But in the course of time the laws of the land were 
corrupted ; 

Might took the place of right, and the weak were 
oppressed, and the mighty 

Ruled with an iron rod. Then it chanced in a noble- 
man's palace ^'^ 

That a necklace of pearls was lost, and ere long a 
suspicion 

Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in the 
household. 

She, after form of trial condemned to die on the scaf- 
fold, 



EVANGELINE. 39 

Patientl}' met her doom at the foot of the statue of 

Justice. 
As to her Father in heaven her innocent spirit as- 
cended, ^"^ 
Lo ! o'er the city a tempest rose ; and the bolts of the 

thunder 
Smote the statue of bronze, and hurled in wrath from 

its left hand 
Down on the pavement below the clattering scales of 

the balance, 
And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of a 

magpie, 
Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was 

inwoven." ^'^ 

Silenced, but not convinced, when the story was 

ended, the blacksmith 
Stood like a man who fain would speak, but findeth 

no language; 
All his thoughts were congealed into lines on his 

face, as the vapors 
Freeze in fantastic shapes on the window-panes in 

the winter. 

Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on the 

table, =^*^ 

Filled, till it overflowed, the pewter tankard with 

home-brewed 
Nut-brown ale, that was famed for its strength in the 

village of Grand-Pre ; 
While from his pocket the notary drew his papers 

and inkhorn, 
Wrote with a steady hand the date and the age of the 

parties, 



40 EVANGELINE). 

Naming the dower of the bride in flocks of sheep and 

in cattle. ^^ 

Orderly all things proceeded, and duly and well were 

completed, 
And the great seal of the law was set like a sun on 

the margin. 
Then from his leathern pouch the farmer threw on 

the table 
Three times the old man's fee in solid pieces of silver; 
And the notary rising, and blessing the bride and 

bridegroom, ^^'^ 

Lifted aloft the tankard of ale and drank to their 

welfare. 
Wiping the foam from his lip, he solemnly bowed and 

departed, 
While in silence the others sat and mused by the 

fireside, 
Till Evangeline brought the draught-board out of its 

corner. 
Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention 

the old men ^^^ 

Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful manoeuvre, 
Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was 

made in the kingrrow. 
Meanwhile, apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's 

embrasure. 
Sat the lovers and whispered together, beholding the 

moon rise 
Over the pallid sea and the silvery mist of the mead- 
ows. 

Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of 
heaven, 



EVANGELINE. 41 

Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the 
angels. 

Thus was the evening passed. Anon the bell from 

the belfry 
Rang out the hour of nine, the village curfew, and 

straightway 
Rose the guests and departed; and silence reigned in 

the household. ^^^ 

Many a farewell word and sweet good-night on the 

door-step 
Lingered long in Kvangeline's heart, and filled it with 

gladness. 
Carefully then were covered the embers that glowed 

on the hearth-stone, 
And on the oaken stairs resounded the tread of the 

farmer. 
Scon with a soundless step the foot of Evangeline fol- 
lowed.^ 
Up the staircase moved a luminous space in the dark- 
ness, 
Lighted less by the lamp than the shining face of the 

maiden. 
Silent she passed through the hall, and entered the 

door of her chamber. 
Simple that chamber was, with its curtains of white, 

and its clothes-press 
Ample and high, on whose spacious shelves were 

carefully folded ''^ 

Linen and woolen stuffs, by the hand of Evangeline 

woven 
This was the precious dower she would bring to her 

husband in marriage, 



42 EVANGBLINE. 

Better than flocks and herds, being proofs of her skill 

as a housewife. 
Soon she extinguished her lamp, for the mellow and 

radiant moonlight 
Streamed through the windows, and lighted the room, 

till the heart of the maiden ^^" 

Swelled and obeyed its power, like the tremulous tides 

of the ocean. 
Ah! she was fair, exceeding fair to behold, as she 

stood with 
Naked snow-white feet on the gleaming floor of her 

chamber! 
Little she dreamed that below, among the trees of the 

orchard. 
Waited her lover and watched for the gleam of her 

lamp and her shadow. ^"^ 

Yet were her thoughts of him, and at times a feeling 

of sadness 
Passed o'er her soul, as the sailing shade of clouds in 

the moonlight 
Flitted across the floor and darkened the room for a 

moment. 
And, as she gazed from the window, she saw serenely 

the moon pass 
Forth from the folds of a cloud, and one star follow 

her footsteps, ^^° 

As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wandered 

with Hagar. 

Section IV. 

Pleasantly rose next morn the sun on the village 
of Grand-Pre. 



EVANGELINE. 43 

Pleasantly gleamed in the soft, sweet air the Basin of 

Minas, 
Where the ships, with their wavering shadows, were 

riding at anchor. 
Life had been long astir in the village, and clamorous 

labor ^^ 

Knocked with its hundred hands at the golden gates 

of the morning. 
Now from the country around, from the farms and 

neighboring hamlets. 
Came in their holiday dresses the blithe Acadian 

peasants. 
Many a glad good-morrow and jocund laugh from the 

young folk 
Made the bright air brighter, as up from the numer- 
ous meadows, ^^ 
Where no path could be seen but the track of wheels 

in the greensward. 
Group after group appeared, and joined, or passed on 

the highway. 
Long ere noon, in the village all sounds of labor were 

silenced. 
Thronged were the streets with people; and noisy 

groups at the house-doors 
Sat in the cheerful sun, and rejoiced and gossiped to- 
gether. ^^^ 
Every house was an inn, where all were welcomed 

and feasted; 
For with this simple people, who lived like brothers 

together, 

All things were held in common, and what one had 
was another's. 



44 Evangeline. 

Yet under Benedict's roof hospitality seemed more 
abundant: 

For Evangeline stood among the guests of her 
father. _ '"^ 

Bright was her face with smiles, and words of wel- 
come and gladness 

Fell from her beautiful lips, and blessed the cup as 
she gave it. 

Under the open sky, in the odorous air of the 
orchard, 

Stript of its golden fruit, was spread the feast of be- 
trothal. 

There in the shade of the porch were the priest and 
the notary seated; ^"^ 

There good Benedict sat, and sturdy Basil the black- 
smith. 

Not far withdrawn from these, by the cider press and 
the bee-hives, 

Michael the fiddler was placed, with the gayest of 
hearts and of waistcoats. 

Shadow and light from the leaves alternately played 
on his snow-white 

Hair, as it waved in the wind; and the jolly face of 
the fiddler ''' 

Glowed like a living coal when the ashes are blown 
from the embers. 

Gaily the old man sang to the vibrant sound of his 
fiddle, 

Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres^ and Le Carillon de 
Dunkerque^ 

And anon with his wooden shoes beat time to the music. 



EVANGELINE. 45 

Merrily, merrily whirled the wheels of the dizzying 

dances ^^^ 

Under the orchard-trees and down the path to the 

meadows; 
Old folk and young together, and children mingled 

among them. 
Fairest of all maids was Evangeline, Benedict's 

daughter! 
Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the 

blacksmith! 

So passed the morning away. And lo! with a sum- 
mons sonorous '^"^ 

Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the mead- 
ows a drum. beat. 

Thronged ere long was the church with men. With- 
out, in the churchyard. 

Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and 
hung on the headstones 

Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from 
the forest. 

Then came the guard from the ships, and marching 
proudly among them "^^ 

Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant 
clangor 

Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceiling 
and casement, — 

Echoed a moment only, and slowly the ponderous 
portal 

Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of 
the soldiers. 

Then uprose their commander, and spake from the 
steps of the altar, ^^° 



46 EVANGELINE. 

Holding aloft in his hands, with the seals, the royal 
commission. 

"You are convened this day," he said, "by his Maj- 
esty's orders. 

Clement and kind has he been; but how you have 
answered his kindness 

Let your own hearts reply ! To my natural make 
and my temper 

Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must 
be grievous. *^^ 

Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our 
monarch: 

Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, and cattle 
of all kinds 

Forfeited be to the crown; and that you yourselves 
from this province 

Be transported to other lands. God grant you may 
dwell there 

Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable peo- 
ple! ... ''' 

Prisoners now I declare you, for such is his Majesty's 
pleasure!" 

As, when the air is serene in the sultry solstice of 
summer. 

Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling of the 
hailstones 

Beats down the farmer's corn in the field, and shatters 
his windows, 

Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch 
from the house-roofs, ^^^ 

Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their en- 
closures; 



EVANGELINE. 47 

So on the hearts of the people descended the words of 

the speaker. 
Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and 

then rose 
Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anger, 
And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed to 

the door-way. ^^ 

Vain was the hope of escape; and cries and fierce im- 
precations 
Rang through the house of prayer; and high o'er the 

heads of the others 
Rose, with his arms uplifted, the figure of Basil the 

blacksmith. 
As, on a stormy sea, a spar is tossed by the billows. 
Flushed was his face and distorted with passion; and 

wildly he shouted,— ^^^ 

"Down with the tyrants of England! we never have 

sworn them allegiance! 
Death to these foreign soldiers, who seize on our 

homes and our harvests!" 
More he fain would have said, but the merciless hand 

of a soldier 
Smote him upon the mouth, and dragged him down 

to the pavement. 

In the midst of the strife and tumult of angry con- 
tention, _ ''" 
Lo! the door of the chancel opened, and Father Felician 
Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the steps of 

the altar. 
Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed 
into silence 



48 EVANGEIvINE. 

All that clamorous throng; and thus he spake to his 

people; 
Deep were his tones and solemn; in accents measured 

and mournful '^^ 

Spake he, as, after the tocsin's alarum, distinctly the 

clock strikes. 
"What is this that ye do, my children? what madness 

has seized you? 
Forty years of my life have I labored among you, and 

taught you, 
Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one an- 
other! 
Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and prayers 

and privations? ^™ 

Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love and 

forgiveness? 
This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and would 

you profane it 
Thus with violent deeds and hearts overflowing with 

hatred? 
Lo! where the crucified Christ from His cross is gaz- 
ing upon you ! 
See! in those sorrowful eyes what meekness and holy 

compassion! ^'^^ 

Hark! how those lips still repeat the prayer, 'O 

Father, forgive them!' 
Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when the wicked 

assail us. 

Let us repeat it now, and say, 'O Father, forgive 
them!' " 

Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in the hearts 
of his people 



EVANGELINB. 49 

Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded the pas- 
sionate outbreak, ^*^o 

While they repeated his prayer and said, "O Father, 
forgive them!" 

Then came the evening service. The tapers gleamed 
from the altar; 

Fervent and deep was the voice of the priest, and the 
people responded, 

Not with their lips alone, but their hearts; and the 
Ave Maria 

Sang they, and fell on their knees, and their souls, 
with devotion translated, *^^ 

Rose on the ardor of prayer, like Elijah ascending 
to heaven. 

Meanwhile had spread in the village the tidings of 

ill, and on all sides 
Wandered, wailing, from house to house the women 

and children. 
Long at her father's door Evangeline stood, with her 

right hand 
Shielding her eyes from the level rays of the sun, 

that, descending, •^^^ 

Lighted the village street with mysterious splendor, 

and roofed each 
Peasant's cottage with golden thatch, and emblazoned 

its windows. 

Long within had been spread the snow-white cloth on 
the table; 

There stood the wheaten loaf, and the honey fragrant 
with wild flowers ; 



50 EVANGELINE. 

There stood the tankard of ale, and the cheese fresh 
brought from the dairy ; ^^^ 

And at the head of the board the great arm-chair of 
the farmer. 

Thus did Evangeline wait at her father's door, as 
the sunset 

Threw the long shadows of trees o'er the broad am- 
brosial meadows. 

Ah! on her spirit within a deeper shadow had 
fallen, 

And from the fields of her soul a fragrance celestial 
ascended, — ^^ 

Charity, meekness, love, and hope, and forgiveness, 
and patience ! 

Then, all forgetful of self, she wandered into the 
village. 

Cheering with looks and words the mournful hearts 
of the women, 

As o'er the darkening fields with lingering steps they 
departed, 

Urged by their household cares, and the weary feet 
of their children. ^°^ 

Down sank the great red sun, and in golden, glim- 
mering vapors 

Veiled the light of his face, like the Prophet descend- 
ing from Sinai. 

Sweetly over the village the bell of the Angelus 
sounded. 

Meanwhile, amid the gloom, by the church Evan- 
geline lingered. 
All was silent within; and in vain at the door and the 
windows ^^^ 



EVANGELINE. 51 

Stood she, and listened and looked, until, overcome 

by emotion 
"Gabriel!" cried she aloud with tremulous voice, but 

no answer 
Came from the graves of the dead, nor the gloomier 

grave of the living. 
Slowly at length she returned to the tenantless house 

of her father. 
Smouldered the fire on the hearth, on the board was 

the supper untasted. ''^^ 

Empty and drear was each room, and haunted with 

phantoms of terror. 
Sadly echoed her step on the stair and the floor of her 

chamber. 
In the dead of the night she heard the disconsolate 

rain fall 
Loud on the withered leaves of the sycamore-tree by 

the window. 
Keenly the lightning flashed; and the voice of the 

echoing thunder ^'^^ 

Told her that God was in heaven and governed the 

world He created! 
Then she remembered the tale she had heard of the 

justice of Heaven; 
Soothed was her troubled soul, and she peacefully 

slumbered till morning. 

Section V. 

Four times the sun had risen and set; and now on 
the fifth day 
Cheerily called the cock to the sleeping maids of the 
farm-house. ^ 



52 evangeune. 

Soon o'er tlie yellow fields, in silent and mournful 

procession, 
Came from the neighboring hamlets and farms the 

Acadian women, 
Driving in ponderous wains their household goods to 

the sea-shore. 
Pausing and looking back to gaze once more on their 

dwellings, 
Ere they were shut from sight by the winding road 

and the woodland. ^^° 

Close at their sides their children ran, and urged on 

the oxen. 
While in their little hands they clasped some frag- 
ments of playthings. 

Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth they hurried; and 

there on the sea-beach 
Piled in confusion lay the household goods of the 

peasants. 
All day long between the shore and the ships did the 

boats ply; ^^^ 

All day long the wains came laboring down from the 

village. 
Late in the afternoon, when the sun was near to his 

setting. 
Echoed far o'er the fields came the roll of drums from 

the churchyard. 
Thither the women and children thronged. On a 

sudden the church-doors 
Opened, and forth came the guard, and marching in 

gloomy procession ^*° 

Followed the long-imprisoned, but patient, Acadian 

farmers. 



EVANGELINE. 56 

Even as pilgrims, who journey afar from their homes 
and their country, 

Sing as they go, and in singing forget they are weary 
and wayworn, 

So with songs on their lips the Acadian peasants de- 
scended 

Down from the church to the shore, amid their wives 
and their daughters. ^^^ 

Foremost the young men came; and raising together 
their voices. 

Sang with tremulous lips a chant of the Catholic 
Missions: — 

"Sacred heart of the Saviour! O inexhaustible fountain! 

Fill our hearts this day with strength, and submission 
and patience!" 

Then the old men, as they marched, and the women 
that stood by the wayside -''"^ 

Joined in the sacred psalm, and the birds in the sun- 
shine above them 

Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of spirits 
departed. 

Half-way down to the shore Evangeline waited in 

silence. 
Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of 

affliction, — 
Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession 

approached her, ^^ 

And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion. 
Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly running to 

meet him, 
Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on his 

shoulder, and whispered, — 



54 BVANGELINE. 

*' Gabriel ! be of good cheer ! for if we love one 
another 

Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mischances 
may happen !" ^^ 

Smiling she spake these words; then suddenly paused, 
for her father 

Saw she, slowly advancing. Alas ! how changed was 
his aspect! 

Gone was the glow from his cheek, and the fire from 
his eye, and his footstep 

Heavier seemed with the weight of the heavy heart 
in his bosom. 

But with a smile and a sigh, she clasped his neck 
and embraced him, ^^^ 

Speaking words of endearment where words of com- 
fort availed not. 

Thus to the Gasperau's mouth moved on that mourn- 
ful procession. 

There disorder prevailed, and the tumult and stir 

of embarking. 
Busily plied the freighted boats ; and in the confusion 
Wives were torn from their husbands, and mothers, 

too late, saw their children ^'^^ 

Left on the land, extending their arms, with wildest 

entreaties. 
So unto separate ships were Basil and Gabriel carried. 
While in despair on the shore Evangeline stood with 

her father. 
Half the task was not done when the sun went down, 

and the twilight 
Deepened and darkened around ; and in haste the 

refluent ocean ^^^ 



EVANGELINE. 55 

Fled away from the shore, and left the line of the 

sand-beach 
Covered with waifs of the tide, with kelp and the 

slippery sea-weed. 
Farther back in the midst of the household goods and 

the wagons, 
Like to a gypsy camp, or a leaguer after a battle. 
All escape cut off by the sea, and the sentinels near 

them, ^"^ 

Lay encamped for the night the houseless Acadian 

farmers. 
Back to its nethermost caves retreated the bellowing 

ocean. 
Dragging adown the beach the rattling pebbles, and 

leaving 
Inland and far up the shore the stranded boats of the 

sailors. 
Then, as the night descended, the herds returned 

from their pastures, ^ 

Sweet was the moist still air with the odor of milk 

from their udders 
Lowing they waited, and long, at the well-known 

bars of the farm-yard, — 
Waited and looked in vain for the voice and the hand 

of the milkmaid. 
Silence reigned in the streets; from the church no 

Angelus sounded. 
Rose no smoke from the roofs, and gleamed no lights 

from the windows. °^ 

But on the shores meanwhile the evening fires had 
been kindled, 



56 EVANGELINE). 

Built of the drift-wood thrown on the sands from 

wrecks in the tempest. 
Round them shapes of gloom and sorrowful faces were 

gathered, 
Voices of women were heard, and of men, and the 

crying of children. 
Onward from fire to fire, as from hearth to hearth in 

his parish, ^^^ 

Wandered the faithful priest, consoling and blessing 

and cheering, 
Like unto shipwrecked Paul on Melita's desolate sea- 
shore. 
Thus he approached the place where Kvangeline sat 

with her father, 
And in the flickering light beheld the face of the old 

man. 
Haggard and hollow and wan, and without either 

thought or emotion, ^''^ 

K'en as the face of a clock from which the hands have 

been taken. 
Vainly Evangeline strove with words and caresses to 

cheer him. 
Vainly offered him food; yet he moved not, he looked 

not, he spake not. 
But, with a vacant stare, ever gazed at the flickering 

fire-light. 
''^BenediciteP'' murmured the priest, ir tones of com- 
passion. '^'^^ 
More he fain would have said, but his heart was full, 

and his accents 
Faltered and paused on his lips, as the feet of a child 

on a threshold. 



EVANGELINE. r>, 

Hushed by the scene he beholds, and the awful pres- 
ence of sorrow. 

Silently, therefore, he laid his hand on the head of the 
maiden, 

Raising his tearful eyes to the silent stars that above 
them ''' 

Moved on their way, unperturbed by the wrongs and 
sorrows of mortals. 

Then sat he down at her side, and they wept together 
in silence. 

Suddenly rose from the south a light, as in autumn 

the blood-red 
Moon climbs the crystal walls of heaven, and o'er the 

horizon 
Titan-like stretches its hundred hands upon mountain 

and meadow, ^^^ 

Seizing the rocks and the rivers, and piling huge 

shadows together. 
Broader and ever btoader it gleamed on the roofs of 

the village. 
Gleamed on the sky and the sea, and the ships that 

lay in the roadstead. 
Columns of shining smoke uprose, and flashes of 

flame were 
Thrust through their folds and withdrawn, like the 

quivering hands of a martyr, *'"" 

Then, as the wind seized the gleeds and the burning 

thatch, and, uplifting. 
Whirled them aloft through the air, at once from a 

hundred house-tops 
Started the sheeted smoke with flashes of flame inter- 
mingled. 



58 Evangeline;. 

These things beheld in dismay the crowd on the 

shore and on shipboard. 
Speechless at first they stood, then cried aloud in 

their anguish, '^~'' 

*'We shall behold no more our homes in the village 

of Grand-Pre!" 
Loud on a sudden the cocks began to crow in the 

farmyards. 
Thinking the day had dawned; and anon the lowing 

of cattle 
Came on the evening breeze, by the barking of dogs 

interrupted. 
Then rose a sound of dread, such as startles the 

sleeping encampments ^^'^ 

Far in the western prairies of forests that skirt the 

Nebraska, 
When the wild horses affrighted sweep by with the 

speed of the whirlwind. 
Or the loud bellowing herds of buffaloes rush to the 

river. 
Such was the sound that arose on the night, as the 

herds and the horses 
Broke through their folds and fences, and madly 

rushed o'er the meadows. ^'^ 

Overwhelmed with the sight, yet speechless, the 

priest and the maiden 
Gazed on the scene of terror that reddened and 

widened before them; 
And as they turned at length to speak to their silent 

companion, 
Lo! from his seat he had fallen, and stretched abroad 

on the seashore 



EVANGELINE. 59 

Motionless lay his form, from which the soul had de- 
parted. 640 

Slowly the priest uplifted the lifeless head, and the 
maiden 

Knelt at her father's side, and wailed aloud in her 
terror. 

Then in a swoon she sank and lay with her head on 
his bosom. 

Through the long night she lay in deep, oblivious 
slumber; 

And when she woke from the trance, she beheld a 
multitude near her. *^^^ 

Faces of friends she beheld, that were mournfully gaz- 
ing upon her. 

Pallid, with tearful eyes, and looks of saddest com- 
passion. 

Still the blaze of the burning village illumined the 
landscape. 

Reddened the sky overhead, and gleamed on the faces 
around her, 

And like the day of doom it seemed to her wavering 

senses. ^^^ 

Then a familiar voice she heard, as it said to the 

people,— 
" Let us bury him here by the sea. When a happier 

season 
Brings us again to our homes from the unknown 

land of our exile, 

Then shall his sacred dust be piously laid in the 
churchyard." 

Such were the words of the priest. And there in 
haste by the sea- side, ^^ 



60 BJVANGELINE. 

Having the glare of t.lie burning village for funeral 

torches, 
But without bell or book, they buried the farmer of 

Grand-Pre. 
And as the voice of the priest repeated the service of 

sorrow, 
Lo ! with a mournful sound like the voice of a vast 

congregation, 
Solemnly answered the sea, and mingled its roar 

with the dirges. ®^° 

'T was the returning tide, that afar from the waste 

of the ocean, 
With the first dawn of the day, came heaving and 

hurrying landward. 
Then recommenced once more the stir and noise of 

embarking; 
And with the ebb of the tide the ships sailed out of 

the harbor, 
Leaving behind them the dead on the shore, and the 

village in ruins. ^^ 

PART THE SECOND. 
Section I. 

Many a weary year had passed since the burning of 
Grand-Pre. 

When on the falling tide the freighted vessels de- 
parted. 

Bearing a nation, with all its household goods, into 
exile, 

Bxile without an end, and without an example in 
story. 

Far asunder, on separate coasts, the Acadians 
landed; ^™ 



EVANGELINE. 61 

Scattered were they, like flakes of snow, when the 

wind from the northeast 
Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken the Banks 

of Newfoundland. 
Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wandered from 

city to city, 
From the cold lakes of the North to sultry Southern 

savannas — 
From the bleak shores of the sea to the lands where 

the Father of Waters ^'^ 

Seizes the hills in his hands, and drags them down 

to the ocean. 
Deep in their sands to bury the scattered bones of the 

mammoth. 
Friends they sought and homes; and many, despair- 
ing, heart-broken. 
Asked of the earth but a grave, and no longer a friend 

nor a fireside. 
Written their history stands on tablets of stone in the 

churchyards. ^^ 

Long among them was seen a maiden who waited and 

wandered. 
Lowly and meek in spirit, and patiently suffering all 

things. 
Fair was she and young; but, alas! before her ex- 
tended. 
Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life, with its 

pathway 
Marked by the graves of those who had sorrowed and 

suffered before her, ^^^ 

Passions long extinguished, and hopes long dead and 

abandoned, 



62 EVANGELINE. 

As the emigrant's way o'er the Western desert is 
marked by 

Camp-fires long consumed, and bones that bleach in 
the sunshine. 

Something there was in her life incomplete, imper- 
fect, unfinished; 

As if a morning of June, with all its music and sun- 
shine. 

Suddenly paused in the sky, and fading, slowly de- 
scended 

Into the east again, from whence it late had arisen 

Sometimes she lingered in towns, till, urged by the 
fever within her. 

Urged by a restless longing, the hunger and thirst of 
the spirit. 

She would commence again her endless search and 

J 095 

endeavor; 

Sometimes in churchyards strayed, and gazed on the 
crosses and tombstones. 

Sat by some nameless grave, and thought that per- 
haps in its bosom. 

He was already at rest, and she longed to slumber 
beside him. 

Sometimes a rumor, a hearsay, an inarticulate whisper, 

Came with its airy hand to point and beckon her for- 

j 700 

ward. 

Sometimes she spake with those who had seen her 
beloved and known him, 

But it was long ago, in some far-off place or forgot- 
ten. 

"Gabriel Lajeunesse! " they said ; "Oh, yes! we have 
seen him. 



EVANGELINE. 63 

He was with Basil the blacksmith, and both have 

gone to the prairies ; 
Coureurs-des-bois are they, and famous hunters and 

trappers." "^^^ 

"Gabriel Lajeunesse ! " said others ; "Oh, yes ! we 

have seen him. 
He is a voyageur in the lowlands of Louisiana." 
Then would they say, '' Dear child! why dream and 

wait for him longer ? 
Are there not other youths as fair as Gabriel ? Others 
Who have hearts as tender and true, and spirits as 

loyal? ''' 

Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary's son, who has 

loved thee 
Many a tedious year; come, give him thy hand and 

be happy !" 
Then would Evangeline answer, serenely but sadly, 

" I cannot ! 
Whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand, 

and not elsewhere. '^'^ 

For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and 
illumines the pathway. 

Many things are made clear, that else lie hidden in 
darkness." 

Thereupon the priest, her friend and father con- 
fessor, 

Said, with a smile, "O daughter ! thy God thus 
speaketh within thee ! 

Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was 
wasted ; "-'' 

If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, re- 
turning 



64 Evangeline. 

Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them 

full of refreshment ; 
That which the fountain sends forth returns again to 

the fountain. 
Patience ; accomplish thy labor; accomplish thy work 

of affection ! 
Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance 

is godlike, "'^^ 

Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till the heart 

is made godlike, 
Purified, strengthened, perfected, and rendered more 

worthy of heaven ! " 

Cheered by the good man's words, Bvangeline labored 

and waited. 
Still in her heart she heard the funeral dirge of the 

ocean. 
But with its sound there was mingled a voice that 

whispered, " Despair not ! " ™ 

Thus did that poor soul wander in want and cheerless 

discomfort. 
Bleeding, barefooted, over the shards and thorns of 

existence. 
Let me essay, O Muse! to follow the wanderer's foot- 
steps; — 
Not through each devious path, each changeful year 

of existence; 
But as a traveler follows a streamlet's course through 

the valley: ^'^^ 

Far from its margin at times, and seeing the gleam 

of its water 
Here and there, in some open space, and at intervals 

only; 



EVANGELINE. 65 

Then drawing nearer its banks, through sylvan 

glooms that conceal it, 
Though he behold it not, he can hear its continuous 

murmur; 
Happy, at length, if he find a spot where it reaches 

an outlet. '^^^ 

Section II. 

It was the month of May. Far down the Beautiful 
River, 

Past the Ohio shore and past the mouth of the Wa- 
bash, 

Into the golden stream of the broad and swift Mis- 
sissippi, 

Floated a cumbrous boat, that was rowed by Acadian 
boatmen. 

It was a band of exiles: a raft, as it were, from the 
shipwrecked '^^^ 

Nation, scattered along the coast, now floating to- 
gether. 

Bound by the bonds of a common belief and a com- 
mon misfortune; 

Men and women and children, who,, guided by hope 
or by hearsay. 

Sought for their kith and their kin among the few- 
acred farmers 

On the Acadian coast, and the prairies of fair Ope- 
lousas. '''*^ 

With them Evangeline went, and her guide, the 
Father Felician. 

Onward o'er sunken sands, through a wilderness 
sombre with forests, 



66 EVANGELINE. 

Day after day they glided adown Ihe turbulent 
river; 

Night after night, by their blazing fires, encamped on 
its borders. 

Now through rushing chutes, among green islands, 
where plumelike "^^^ 

Cotton-trees nodded their shadowy crests, they swept 
with the current, 

Then emerged into broad lagoons, where silvery sand- 
bars 

Lay in the stream, and along the wimpling waves of 
their margin. 

Shining with snow-white plumes, large flocks of pel- 
icans waded. 

Level the landscape grew, and along the shores of the 
river, '^^ 

Shaded by china-trees," in the midst of luxuriant gar- 
dens, 

Stood the houses of planters, with negro cabins and 
dove-cots. 

They were approaching the region where reigns per- 
petual summer. 

Where through the Golden Coast, and groves of 
orange and citron. 

Sweeps with majestic curve th? river away to the 
eastward. "^^^ 

They, too, swerved from their course; and, entering 
the Bayou of Plaquemine, 

Soon were lost in a maze of sluggish and devious 
waters. 

Which, like a .network of steel, extended in every 
direction. 



EVANGELINB. 67 

Over their heads the towering and tenebrous boughs 
of the cypress 

Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid- 
air ''« 

Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient 
cathedrals. 

Deathlike the silence seemed, and unbroken, save by 
t?ie herons 

Home to their roosts in the cedar-trees returning at 
sunset, 

Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with demoniac 
laughter. 

Lovely the moonlight was as it glanced and gleamed 
on the water, '^''^ 

Gleamed on the columns of cypress and cedar sus- 
taining the arches, 

Down through whose broken vaults it fell as through 
chinks in a ruin. 

Dreamlike, and indistinct, and strange were all things 
around them ; 

And o'er their spirits there came a feeling of wonder 
and sadness, — 

Strange forebodings of ill, unseen and that cannot be 
compassed. ''^ 

As, at the tramp of a horse's hoof on the turf of the 

prairies. 
Far in advance are closed the leaves of the shrinking 

mimosa. 
So, at the hoof-beats of fate, with sad forebodings of 

evil, 
Shrinks and closes the heart, ere the stroke of doom 

has attained it. 



68 EVANGEI.INE. 

But Evangeline's heart was sustained by a vision, 

that faintly ''^^ 

Floated before her eyes, and beckoned her on through 

the moonlight. 
It was the thought of her brain that assumed the 

shape of a phantom. 
Through those shadowy aisles had Gabriel wandered 

before her, 
And every stroke of the oar now brought him nearer 

and nearer. 

Then, in his place, at the prow of the boat, rose 

one of the oarsmen, ^^° 

And, as a signal sound, if others like them perad- 

venture 
Sailed on those gloomy and midnight streams, blew 

a blast on his bugle. 
Wild through the dark colonnades and corridors leafy 

the blast rang. 
Breaking the seal of silence and giving tongues to 

the forest. 
Soundless above them the banners of moss just stirred 

to the music. '^^^ 

Multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the distance, 
Over the watery floor, and beneath the reverberant 

branches; 
But not a voice replied ; no answer came from the 

darkness ; 
And when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain 

was the silence. 
Then Evangeline slept; but the boatmen rowed 

through the midnight, ^^ 



EVANGEI^INE. 6^^ 

Silent at times, then singing familiar Canadian boat- 
songs, 

Such as they sang of old on their own Acadian rivers. 

While through the night were heard the mysterious 
sounds of the desert, 

Far off, — indistinct, — as of wave or wind in the 
forest, 

Mixed with the whoop of the crane and the roar of 
the grim alligator. ^^ 

Thus ere another noon they emerged from the 
shades ; and before them 

Lay, in the golden sun, the lakes of the Atchafalaya. 

Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undula- 
tions 

Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, 
the lotus 

Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boat- 
men. ^'^ 

Faint was the air with the odorous breath of magno- 
lia blossoms. 

And with the heat of noon; and numberless sylvan 
islands. 

Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming 
hedges of roses, 

Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to 
slumber. 

Soon by the fairest of these their weary oars were 
suspended. '^'^ 

Under the boughs of Wachita willows, that grew by 
the margin. 

Safely their boat was moored; and scattered about on 
the greensward, 



70 EVANGELINE. 

Tired with their midnight toil, the weary travellers 
slumbered. 

Over them vast and high extended the cope of a 
cedar. 

Swinging from its great arms, the trumpet-flower and 
the grapevine ^"° 

Hung their ladder of ropes aloft lik^ the ladder of 
Jacob, 

On whose pendulous stairs the angels ascending, de- 
scending, 

Were the swift humming-birds, that flitted from blos- 
som to blossom. 

Such was the vision Evangeline saw as she slumbered 
beneath it. 

Filled was her heart with love, and the dawn of an 
opening heaven ^^^ 

Lighted her soul in sleep with the glory of regions 
celestial. 

Nearer, ever nearer, among the numberless islands, 

Darted a light, swift boat, that sped away o'er the 
water, 

Urged on its course by the sinewy arms of hunters 
and trappers. 

Northward its prow was turned, to the land of the 
bison and beaver. ^^'^ 

At the helm sat a youth, with countenance thought- 
ful and careworn. 

Dark and neglected locks overshadowed his brow, and 
a sadness 

Somewhat beyond his years on his face was legibly 
written. 



EVANGELINE. i 1 

Gabriel was it, who, weary with waiting, unhappy 
and restless, 

Sought in the Western wilds oblivion of self and of 
sorrow. ^^ 

Swiftly they glided along, close under the lee of the 
island. 

But by the opposite bank, and behind a screen of pal- 
mettos; 

So that they saw not the boat, where it lay concealed 
in the willows; 

All undisturbed by the dash of their oars, and unseen, 
were the sleepers; 

Angel of God was their none to awaken the slumber- 
ing maiden. *^^" 

Swiftly they glided away, like the shade of a cloud on 
the prairie. 

After the sound of their oars on the tholes had died 
in the distance, 

As from a magic trance the sleepers awoke, and the 
maiden 

Said with a sigh to the friendly priest, "O Father 
Felician! 

Something says in my heart that near me Gabriel 
wanders. ^^^ 

Is it a foolish dream, an idle and vague superstition? 

Or has an angel passed, and revealed the truth to my 
spirit?" 

Then, with a blush, she added, "Alas for my credu- 
lous fancy! 

Unto ears like thine such words as these have no 
meaning." 

But made answer the reverened man, and he smiled 
as he answered,: — ^^ 



72 :eVANGELINe. 

"Daughter, thy words are not idle; nor are they to 

me without meaning, 
Feeling is deep and still; and the word that floats on 

the surface 
Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the anchor 

is hidden. 
Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world 

calls illusions. 
Gabriel truly is near thee; for not far away to the 

southward, ®^^ 

On the banks of the Teche, are the towns of St. 

Maur and St. Martin. 
There the long-wandering bride shall be given again 

to her bridegroom. 
There the long-absent pastor regain his flock and his 

sheepfold. 
Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of 

fruit-trees; 
Under the feet a garden of flowers, and the bluest of 

860 

neavens 
Bending above, and resting its dome on the walls of 

the forest. 
They who dwell there have named it the Eden of 

Louisiana." 

With these words of cheer they arose and con- 
tinued their journey. 

Softly the evening came. The sun from the western 
horizon 

Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the 
landscape; 

Twinkling vapors arose ; and sky and water and forest 



EVANGEUNS. 73 

Seemed all on fire at the touch , and melted and 
mingled together. 

Hanging between two skies, a cloud with edges of 
silver, 

Floated the boat, with its dripping oars, on the mo- 
tionless water. 

Filled was Evangeline's heart with inexpressible 

sweetness. ^™ 

Touched by the magic spell, the sacred fountains of 

feeling 
Glowed with the light of love, as the skies and waters 

around her. 
Then from a neighboring thicket the mocking-bird, 

wildest of singers, 

Swinging aloft on a willow spray that hung o'er the 

water. 
Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious 

music ^^^ 

That the whole air and the woods and the waves 

seemed silent to listen. 
Plaintive at first were the tones, and sad; then soaring 

to madness 
Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of frenzied 

Bacchantes. 
Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, low, lam- 
entation ; 
Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad 

in derision, ^ 

As when, after a storm, a gust of wind through the 

tree-tops 
Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower on 

the branches. 



74 EVANGELINE. 

With sucli a prelude as this, and hearts that throbbed 
with emotion, 

Slowly they entered the Teche, where it flows through 
the green Opelousas, 

And, through the amber air, above the crest of the 
woodland, ^^^ 

Saw the column of smoke that arose from a neigh- 
boring dwelling ; — 

Sounds of a horn they heard, and the distant lowing 
of cattle. 

Section III. 

Near to the bank of the river, o'ershadowed by 
oaks from whose branches 

Garlands of Spanish moss and of mystic mistletoe 
flaunted, 

Such as the Druids cut down with golden hatchets at 
Yule-tide, ^^ 

Stood, secluded and still, the house of the herdsman. 
A garden 

Girded it round about with a belt of luxuriant blos- 
soms. 

Filling the air with fragrance. The house itself w^as 
of timbers 

Hewn from the cypress-tree, and carefully fitted to- 
gether. 

Large and low was the roof; and on slender columns 
supported, ^^^ 

Rose-wreathed, vine-encircled, a broad and spacious 
veranda, 

Haunt of the humming-bird and the bee, extended 
around it. 



EVANGEUNE. 75 

At each end of the house, amid the flowers of the 
garden, 

Stationed the dove-cots were, as love's perpetual sym- 
bol, 

Scenes of endless wooing, and endless contentions of 
rivals. ^oo 

Silence reigned o'er the place. The line of shadow 
and sunshine 

Ran near the tops of the trees; but the house itself 
was in shadow. 

And from its chimney-top, ascending and slowly ex- 
panding 

Into the evening air, a thin blue column of smoke 
rose. 

In the rear of the house, from the garden gate, ran a 
pathway ^ 

Through the great groves of oak to the skirts of the 
limitless prairie, 

Into whose sea of flowers the sun was slowly descend- 
ing. 

Full in his track of light, like ships with shadowy 
canvas 

Hanging loose from their spar in a motionless calm 
in the tropcis, 

Stood a cluster of trees, with tangled cordage of 
grapevines. ^^° 

Just where the woodlands met the flowery surf of 

the prairie. 
Mounted upon his horse, with Spanish saddle and 

stirrups, 
Sat a herdsman, arrayed in gaiters and doublet of 

deerskin. 



76 EVANGEIJNE. 

Broad and brown was the face that from under the 

Spanish sombrero 
Gazed on the peaceful scene, with the lordly look of 

its master. ^*^ 

Round about him were numberless herds of kine that 
were grazing 

Quietly in the meadows, and breathing the vapory 
freshness 

That uprose from the river, and spread itself over the 
landscape. 

Slowly lifting the horn that hung at his side, and 
expanding 

Fully his broad, deep chest, he blew a blast, that re- 
sounded ^^'^ 

Wildly and sweet and far, through the still damp air 
of the evening. 

Suddenly out of the grass the long white horns of the 
cattle 

Rose like flakes of foam on the adverse currents of 
ocean. 

Silent a moment they gazed, then bellowing rushed 
o'er the prairie, 

And the whole mass became a cloud, a shade in the 
distance, ^^ 

Then, as the herdsman turned to the house, through 
the gate of the garden 

Saw he the forms of the priest and the maiden ad- 
vancing to meet him. 

Suddenly down from his horse he sprang in amaze- 
ment, and forward 

Pushed with extended arms and exclamations of won- 
der; 



EVANGELINE. 77 

When they beheld his face, they recognized Basil the 

blacksmith. ^^ 

Hearty his welcome was, as he led his guests to the 

garden. 
There in an arbor of roses with endless question and 

answer 
Gave they vent to their hearts, and renewed their 

friendly embraces, 

L/aughing and weeping by turns, or sitting silent and 

thoughtful. 
Thoughtful, for Gabriel came not; and now dark 

doubts and misgivings ^^^ 

Stole o'er the maiden's heart; and Basil, somewhat 

embarrassed, 
Broke the silence and said, "If you came by the 

Atchafalaya, 
How have you nowhere encountered my Gabriel's 

boat on the bayous?" 
Over Hvangeline's face at the words of Basil a shade 

passed. 
Tears came into her eyes, and she said, with a trem- 
ulous accent, ^^^ 
"Gone? is Gabriel gone?" and, concealing her face 

on his shoulder. 

All her o'erburdened heart gave way, and she wept 
and lamented. 

Then the good Basil said, — and his voice grew blithe 

as he said it, — 
"Be of good cheer, my child; it is only toda}^ he 

departed. 
Foolish boy! he has left me alone with my herds and 

my horses. ^ 



78 EVANGELINE. 

Moody and restless grown, and tried and troubled, liis 
spirit 

Could no longer endure the calm of this quiet exis- 
tence. 

Thinking ever of thee, uncertain and sorrowful 
ever. 

Ever silent, or. speaking only of thee and his troubles, 

He at length had become so tedious to men and to 
maidens, ^^^ 

Tedious even to me, that at length I bethought me, 
and sent him 

Unto the town of Adayes to trade for mules with the 
Spaniards. 

Thence he will follow the Indian trails to the Ozark 
Mountains, 

Hunting for furs in the forests, on rivers trapping 
the beaver. 

Therefore be of good cheer; we will follow the fugi- 
tive lover; ^^^ 

He is not far on his way, and the Fates and the 
streams are against him. 

Up and away tomorrow, and through the red dew of 
the morning. 

We will follow him fast, and bring him back to his 
prison." 

Then glad voices were heard, and up from the 

banks of the river. 
Borne aloft on his comrades' arms, came Michael the 

fiddler. _ _ "^ 

Long under Basil's roof had he lived, like a god on 

OlympuSj 



EVANGELINE. 79 

Having no other care than dispensing music to mor- 
tals. 
Far renowned was he for his silver locks and his 

fiddle. 
"Long live Michael," they cried, "our brave Acadian 

minstrel!" 
As they bore him aloft in triumphal procession; and 

straightway ^^ 

Father Felician advanced with Evangeline, greeting 

the old man 
Kindly and oft, and recalling the past, while Basil, 

enraptured. 
Hailed with hilarious joy his old companions and 

gossips. 
Laughing loud and long, and embracing mothers and 

daughters. 
Much they marvelled to see the wealth of the ci-devant 

blacksmith, ^^o 

All his domains and his herds, and his patriarchal 

demeanor ; 
Much they marvelled to hear his tales of the soil and 

the climate, 
And of the prairies, whose numberless herds were his 

who would take them ; 
Each one thought in his heart, that he, too, would go 

and do likewise. 

Thus they ascended the steps, and, crossing the breezy 
veranda, ^^ 

Entered the hall of the house, where already the 
supper of Basil 

Waited his late return ; and they rested and feasted 
together. 



80 EVANGEUNK. 

Over the joyous feast the sudden darkness de- 
scended. 

All was silent without, and, illuming the landscape 
with silver, 

Fair rose the dewy moon and the myriad stars ; but 
within doors, ^^" 

Brighter than these, shone the faces of friends in the 
glimmering lamplight. 

Then from his station aloft, at the head of the table, 
the herdsman 

Poured forth his heart and his wine together in end- 
less profusion. 

Lighting his pipe, that was filled with sweet Natchi- 
toches tobacco. 

Thus he spake to his guests, who listened, and smiled 
as they listened : — ^^ 

"Welcome once more, my friends, who long have 
been friendless and homeless. 

Welcome once more to a home, that is better per- 
chance than the old one ! 

Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the 
rivers ; 

Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the 
farmer ; 

Smoothly the plowshare runs through the soil, as a 
keel through the water. ^^^ 

All the year round the orange-groves are in blossom ; 
and grass grows 

More in a single night than a whole Canadian sum- 
mer. 

Here, too, numberless herds run wild and unclaimed 
in the prairies ; 



EVANGELINE. 81 

Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and 

forests of timber 
With a few blows of the axe are hewn and framed 

into houses. ^^ 

After your houses are built, and your fields are yellow 

with harvests, 
No King George of England shall drive you away 

from your homesteads. 
Burning your dwellings and barns, and stealing your 

farms and your cattle." 
Speaking these words, he blew a wrathful cloud from 

his nostrils, 
While his huge, brown hand came thundering down 

on the table, '"^ 

So that the guests all started ; and Father Felician, 

astounded. 
Suddenly paused, with a pinch of snuff half-way to 

his nostrils. 
But the brave Basil resumed, and his words were 

milder and gayer: — 
"Onl}'' beware of the fever, my friends, beware of the 

fever! 
For it is not like that of our cold Acadian climate, ^^^ 
Cured by wearing a spider hung round one's neck in 

a nutshell!" 
Then there were voices heard at the door, and foot- 
steps approaching 
Sounded upon the stairs and the floor of the breezy 

veranda. 
It was the neighboring Creoles and small Acadian 

planters. 
Who had been summoned all to the house of Basil 

the herdsman. ^*^^^ 



82 EVANGELINB. 

Merry the meeting was of ancient comrades and 
neighbors: 

Friend clasped friend in his arms; and they who 
before were as strangers, 

Meeting in exile, became straightway as friends to 
each other, 

Drawn by the gentle bond of a common country 
together. 

But in the neighboring hall a strain of music, pro- 
ceeding ^^^'^ 

From the accordant strings of Michael's melodious 
fiddle, 

Broke up all further speech. Away, like children 
delighted. 

All things forgotten beside, they gave themselves to 
the maddening 

Whirl of the dizzy dance as it swept and swayed to 
the music. 

Dreamlike, with beaming eyes and the rush of flutter- 
ing garments. ^°^° 

Meanwhile, apart, at the head of the hall, the priest 

and the herdsman 
Sat, conversing together of past and present and 

future; 
While Bvangeline stood like one entranced, for within 

her 
Olden memories rose, and loud in the midst of the 

music 
Heard she the sound of the sea, and an irrepressible 

sadness ^°"^^ 

Came o'er her heart, and unseen she stole forth into 

the garden. 



EVANGELINE. 8.> 

Beautiful was the uiglit. Behind the black wall of 

the forest, 
Tipping its summit with silver, arose the moon. On 

the river 
Fell here and there through the branches a tremulous 

gleam of the moonlight, 
Like the sweet thoughts of love on a darkened and 

devious spirit. ^'^^ 

Nearer and round about her, the manifold flowers 

of the garden 
Poured out their souls in odors, that were their prayers 

and confessions 
Unto the night, as it went its way, like a silent 

Carthusian. 
Fuller of fragrance than they, and as heavy with 

shadows and night-dews, 
Hung the heart of the maiden. The calm and the 

magical moonlight ^^'-^ 

Seemed to inundate her soul with indefinable long- 
ings, 
As, through the garden gate, and beneath the shade 

of the oak-trees, 
Passed she along the path to the edge of the measure- 
less prairie. 
Silent it lay, with a silvery haze upon it, and fire-flies 
Gleaming and floating away in mingled and infinite 

numbers. ^°'*° 

Over her head the stars, the thoughts of God in the 

heavens. 
Shone on the eyes of man, who had ceased to marvel 

and worship. 
Save when a blazing comet was seen on the walls of 

that temple, 



84 BVANGEIJNK. 

As if a hand had appeared and written upon them, 

''Upharsin." 
And the soul of the maiden, between the stars and 

the fire-flies, '''^ 

Wandered alone, and she cried, "O Gabriel! O my 

beloved ! 
Art thou so near unto me, and yet I cannot behold 

thee? 
Art thou so near unto me, and yet thy voice does not 

reach me? 
Ah ! how often thy feet have trod this path to the 

prairie ! 
Ah ! how often thine eyes have looked on the wood- 
lands around me ! ^"^° 
Ah ! how often beneath this oak, returning from labor. 
Thou hast lain down to rest, and to dream of me in 

thy slumbers ! 
When shall these eyes behold, these arms be folded 

about thee? " 
Loud and sudden and near the note of a whippoorwill 

sounded 
Like a flute in the woods ; and anon, through the 

neighboring thickets, ^"^^ 

Farther and farther away it floated and dropped into 

silence. 
"Patience!" whispered the oaks from oracular cav- 
erns of darkness ; 
And, from the moonlit meadow, a sigh responded, 

"To-morrow ! " 

Bright rose the sun next day ; and all the flowers 
of the garden 



EVANGELINE. 85 

Bathed his shining feet with their tears, and anointed 

his tresses ^^ 

With the delicious balm that they bore in their vases 

of crystal. 
"Farewell!" said the priest, as he stood at the 

shadowy threshold ; 
"See that you bring us the Prodigal Son from his 

fasting and famine. 
And, too, the Foolish Virgin, who slept when the 

bridegroom was coming." 
"Farewell! " answered the maiden, and, smiling, with 

Basil descended ^^ 

Down to the river's brink, where the boatmen already 

were waiting. 
Thus beginning their journey with morning, and sun- 
shine, and gladness, 
Swiftly they followed the flight of him who was 

speeding before them, 
Blown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf over the 

desert. 
Not that day, nor the next, nor yet the day that suc- 
ceeded, 1^™ 
Found they trace of his course, in lake or forest or 

river, 
Nor, after many days, had they found him ; but vague 

and uncertain 
Rumors alone were their guides through a wild and 

desolate country ; 
Till, at the little inn of the Spanish town of Adayes, 
Weary and worn, they alighted, and learned from the 

garrulous landlord '"'"^ 

That on the day before, with horses and guides and 

companions, 



86 EVANGELINE. 

Gabriel left the village, and took the road of the 
prairies. 

Section IV 

Far in the West there lies a desert land, where the 

mountains 
Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and lumi- 
nous summits. 
Down from their jagged, deep ravines, where the 

gorge, like a gateway, ^"^'^ 

Opens a passage rude to the wheels of the emigrant's 

wagon, 
Westward the Oregon flows and the Walleway and 

Owyhee. 
Eastward, with devious course, among the Wind-rivre 

Mountains, 
Through the Sweet-water Valley precipitate leaps the 

Nebraska ; 
And to the south, from Fontaine-quibout and the 

Spanish sierras, ' '*^^' 

Fretted with sands and rocks, and swept by the wind 

of the desert. 
Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, descend 

to the ocean, 
Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and solemn 

vibrations. 
Spreading between these streams are the wondrous, 

beautiful prairies. 
Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sun- 
shine. 
Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple 

amorphas. 



EVANGELINE. 87 

Over them wandered the buffalo herds, and the elk, 
and the roebuck ; 

Over them wandered the wolves, and herds of rider- 
less horses ; 

Fires that blast and blight, and winds that are weary 
with travel ; 

Over them wander the scattered tribes of Ishmael's 
children, '"^ 

Staining the desert with blood ; and above their ter- 
rible war-trails 

Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic, the vul- 
ture. 

Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered 
in battle. 

By invisible stairs ascending and scaling the heavens. 

Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these 
savage marauders; ""^ 

Here and there rise groves from the margins of swift- 
running rivers ; 

And the grim, taciturn bear, the anchorite monk of 
the desert. 

Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for roots by 

the brook-side, 
And over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline 

heaven. 
Like the protecting hand of God inverted above 

them. "05 

Into this wonderful land, at the base of the Ozark 
Mountains, 

Gabriel far had entered, with hunters and trappers 
behind him. 



88 :eVANGELINE. 

Day after day, with their Indian guides, the maiden 

and Basil 
Followed his flying steps, and thought each day to 

o'ertake him. 
Sometimes they saw, or thought they saw, the smoke 

of his camp-fire "^" 

Rise in the morning air from the distant plain; but 

at nightfall, 
When they had reached the place, they found only 

embers and ashes. 
And, though their hearts were sad at times and their 

bodies were weary, 
Hope still guided them on, as the magic Fata Mor- 
gana 
Showed them her lakes of light, that retreated and 

vanished before them. "^^ 

Once, as they sat by their evening fire, there silently 

entered 
Into the little camp an Indian woman, whose features 
Wore deep traces of sorrow, and patience as great as 

her sorrow. 
She was a Shawnee woman returning home to her 

people, 
From the far-off hunting-grounds of the cruel 

Camanches, ^^~° 

Where her Canadian husband, a coureur-des-bois, 

had been murdered. 
Touched were their hearts at her story, and warmest 

and friendliest welcome 
Gave they, the words of cheer, and she sat and 

feasted among them 



EVANGELINE. 8'> 

On<tlie buffalo-meat and the venison cooked on the 

embers. 
But when their meal was done, and Basil and all his 

companions, "^^ 

Worn with the long day's march and the chase of the 

deer and the bison, 
Stretched themselves on the ground, and slept where 

the quivering fire-light 
Flashed on their swarthy cheeks, and their forms 

wrapped up in their blankets, 
Then at the door of Evangeline's tent she sat and 

repeated 
Slowly, with soft, low voice, and the charm of her 

Indian accent, "^° 

All the tale of her love, with its pleasures, and pains, 

and reverses. 
Much Evangeline wept at the tale, and to know that 

another 
Hapless heart like her own had loved and had been 

disappointed. 
Moved to the depths of her soul by pity and woman's 

compassion, 
Yet in her sorrow pleased that one who had suffered 

was near her, "■^•^ 

She in turn related her love and all its disasters. 
Mute with wonder the Shawnee sat, and when she 

had ended 
Still was mute; but at length, as if a mysterious 

horror 
Passed through her brain, she spake, and repeated 

the tale of the Mowis; 
Mowis, the bridegroom of snow, who won and wedded 

a maiden. "^° 



90 KVANGELINE. 

But, when the morning came, arose and passed from 

the wigwam, 
Fading and melting away and dissolving into the 

sunshine. 
Till she beheld him no more, though she followed far 

into the forest. 
Then, in those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a 

weird incantation, 
Told she the tale of the fair Lilinau, who was wooed 

by a phantom, ""^^ 

That, through the pines o'er her father's lodge, in the 

hush of the twilight, 
Breathed like the evening wind, and whispered love 

to the maiden, 
Till she followed his green and waving plume through 

the forest. 
And nevermore returned, nor was seen again by her 

people. 
Silent with wonder and strange surprise, Evangeline 

listened '''' 

To the soft flow of her magical words, till the region 

around her 
Seemed like enchanted ground, and her swarthy 

guest the enchantress. 
Slowly over the tops of the Ozark Mountains the 

moon rose, 
Lighting the little tent, and with a mysterious 

splendor 
Touching the sombre leaves, and embracing and 

filling the woodland. 
With a delicious sound the brook rushed by, and the 

branches 



EVANGELINE. 91 

Swayed and sighed overhead in scarcely audible 

whispers. 
Filled with the thoughts of love was Evangeline's 

heart, but a secret, 
Subtile sense crept in of pain and indefinite terror, 
As the cold, poisonous snake creeps into the nest of 

the swallow. "^® 

It was no earthly fear. A breath from the region of 

spirits 
Seemed to float in the air of night; and she felt for a 

moment 
That, like the Indian maid, she, too, was pursuing a 

phantom. 
With this thought she slept, and the fear and the 

phantom had vanished. 
Early upon the morrow the march was resumed, and 

the Shawnee '^^ 

vSaid, as they journeyed along, — " On the western 

slope of these mountains 
Dwells in his little village the Black Robe chief of 

the Mission. 
Much he teaches the people, and tells them of Mary 

and Jesus ; 
Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weep with pain, 

as they hear him." 
Then, with a sudden and secret emotion, Evangeline 

answered, "™ 

" Let us go to the Mission, for there good tidings 

await us ! " 
Thither they turned their steeds ; and behind a spur 

of the mountains. 
Just as the sun went down, they heard a murmur of 

voices, 



92 BVANGEUNE. 

And in a meadow green and broad, by the bank of a 

river, 
Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the 

Jesuit Mission. "^^ 

Under a towering oak, that stood in the midst of the 

village. 
Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. A 

crucifix fastened 
High on the trunk of the tree, and overshadowed by 

grapevines. 
Looked with its agonized face on the multitude kneel- 
ing beneath it. 
This was their rural chapel. Aloft, through the in- 
tricate arches "^"^ 
Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their vespers. 
Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and sighs 

of the branches. 
Silent, with heads uncovered, the travellers, nearer 

approaching. 
Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in the evening 

devotions. 
But when the service was done, and the benediction 

had fallen '''' 

Forth from the hands of the priest, like seed from the 

hands of the sower. 
Slowly the reverend man advanced to the strangers, 

and bade them 
Welcome; and when they replied, he smiled with 

benignant expression. 
Hearing the homelike sounds of his mother-tongue 

in the forest, 
And with words of kindness conducted them into his 

wigwam. ^^^^ 



EVANGEUNE. 93 

There upon mats and skins they reposed, and on 

cakes of the maize-ear 
Feasted, and slaked their thirst from the water-gourd 

of the teacher. 
Soon was their story told ; and the priest with solem- 
nity answered : — 
"Not six suns have risen and set since Gabriel, 

seated 
On this mat by my side, where now the maiden re- 
poses, ^'^^ 
Told me the same sad tale ; then arose and continued 

his journey!" 
Soft was the voice of the priest, and he spake with an 

accent of kindness ; 
But on Evangeline's heart fell his words as in winter 

the snow-flakes 
Fall into some lone nest from which the birds have 

departed. 
" Far to the north he has gone," continued the priest ; 

"but in autumn, ^~^ 

When the chase is done, will return again to the 

Mission." 
Then Evangeline said, and her voice was meek and 

submissive, 
" Let me remain with thee, for my soul is sad and 

afflicted." 
So seemed it wise and well unto all ; and betimes on 

the morrow, 
Mounting his Mexican steed, with his Indian guides 

and companions, ^"^"^ 

Homeward Basil returned, and Evangeline stayed at 

the Mission. 



94 EVANGELINE. 

Slowly, slowly, slowly the days succeeded each 

other, — 
Days and weeks and months ; and the fields of maize 

that were springing 
Green from the ground when a stranger she came, 

now waving about her, 
Lifted their slender shafts, with leaves interlacing, 

and forming ^~'° 

Cloisters for mendicant crows and granaries pillaged 

by squirrels. 
Then in the golden weather the maize was husked, 

and the maidens 
Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a 

lover. 
But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in 

the corn-field. 
Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not 

her lover. ^'-'^ 

*' Patience !" the priest would say; "have faith, and 

thy prayer will be answered! 
Look at this vigorous plant that lifts its head from 

the meadow. 
See how its leaves are turned to the north, as true as 

the magnet ; 
This is the compass-flower, that the finger of God has 

planted 
Here in the houseless wild, to direct the traveller's 

journey ^^ 

Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the 

desert. 
Such in the soul of man is faith. The blossoms of 

passion. 



EVANGELINE. 95 

Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and fuller of 
fragrance, 

But they beguile us, and lead us astray, and their 
odor is deadly. 

Only this humble plant can guide us here, and here- 
after 1225 

Crown us with asphodel flowers, that are wet with 
the dews of nepenthe." 

So came the autumn, and passed, and the winter — 
yet Gabriel came not ; 

Blossomed the opening spring, and the notes of the 
robin and bluebird 

Sounded sweet upon wold and in wood, yet Gabriel 
came not. 

But on the breath of the summer winds a rumor was 
wafted ^230 

Sweeter than the song of bird, or hue or odor of blos- 
som. 

Far to the north and east, it is said, in the Michigan 
forests, 

Gabriel had his lodge by the banks of the Saginaw 
River. 

And, with returning guides, that sought the lakes of 
St. Lawrence, 

Saying a sad farewell, Evangeline went from the 
Mission. ^235 

When over weary ways, by long and perilous 
marches. 

She had attained at length the depths of the Michi- 
gan forests. 

Found she the hunter's lodge deserted and fallen to 
ruin! 



Q6 SVANGEI^INE. 

Thus did the long sad years glide on, and in sea- 
sons and places 
Divers and distant far was seen the wandering 

maiden ;— ^240 

Now in the Tents of Grace of the meek Moravian 

Missions, 
Now in the noisy camps and the battle-fields of the 

army. 
Now in secluded hamlets, in towns and populous 

cities. 
Like a phantom she came, and passed away unre- 

membered. 
Fair was she and young, when in hope began the 

long journey; ^"^^ 

Faded was she and old, when in disappointment it 

ended. 
Each succeeding year stole something away from her 

beauty. 
Leaving behind it, broader and deeper, the gloom and 

the shadow. 
Then there appeared and spread faint streaks of gray 

o'er her forehead, 
Dawn of another life, that broke o'er her earthly 

horizon, ^^^ 

As in the eastern sky the first -faint streaks of the 

morning. 

SECTION V. 

In that delightful land which is washed by the 
Delaware's waters, 
Guarding in sylvan shades the name of Penn the 
apostle. 



EVANGELINE. 97 

Stands on the banks of its beautiful stream the city 
he founded. 

There all the air is balm, and the peach is the em- 
blem of beauty. ^-^ 

And the streets still reecho the names of the trees of 
the forest, 

As if they fain would appease the Dryads whose 
haunts they molested. 

There from the troubled sea had Evangeline landed, 
an exile, 

Finding among the children of Penn a home and a 
country. 

There old Rene Leblanc had died; and when he 
departed, '"''° 

Saw at his side only one of all his hundred descend- 
ants. 

Something at least there was in the friendly streets 
of the citv, 

Something that spake to her heart, and made her no 
longer a stranger; 

And her ear was pleased with the Thee and Thou of 
the Quakers, 

For it recalled the past, the old Acadian country, ''^^^ 

Where all men were equal, and all were brothers and 
sisters. 

So, when the fruitless search, the disappointed en- 
deavor, 

Ended, to recommence no more upon earth, uncom- 
plainingly, 

Thither, as leaves to the light, were turned her 
thoughts and her footsteps. 

As from a mountain's top the rainy mists of the 
morning ^-**^ 



98 EVANGELTN"E. 

Roll away, and afar we behold the landscape below us, 
Sun-illumined, with shining rivers and cities and 

hamlets, 
So fell the mists from her mind, and she saw the 

world far below her, ' 

Dark no longer, but all illumined with love ; and the 

pathway 
Which she had climbed so far, lying smooth and fair 

in the distance. ^^^^ 

Gabriel was not forgotten. Within her heart was his 

image, 
Clothed in the beauty of love and youth, as last she 

beheld him. 
Only more beautiful made by his deathlike silence 

and absence. 
Into her thoughts of him time entered not, for it was 

not. 
Over him years had no power ; he was not changed, 

but transfigured ; ^"^° 

He had become to her heart as one who is dead, and 

not absent; 
Patience and abnegation of self, and devotion to others, 
This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow had 

taught her. 
So was her love diffused, but, like to some odorous 

spices, 
Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the air with 

10Q5 

aroma. 

Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, but to fol- 
low, 

Meekly with reverent steps, the sacred feet of her 
Saviour. 



EVANGELINE. 99 

Thus many years she lived as a Sister of Mercy; 

frequenting 
Lonel}^ and wretched roofs in the crowded lanes of 

the city, 
Where distress and want concealed themselves from 

the sunlight, '''' 

Where disease and sorrow in garrets languished 

neglected. 
Night after night when the world was asleep, as the 

watchman repeated 
Loud, through the gusty streets, that all was well in 

the city, 
High at some lonely window he saw the light of her 

taper. 
Day after day, in the gray of the dawn, as slow 

through the suburbs '"^ 

Plodded the German farmer, with flowers and fruits 

for the market, 
Met he that meek, pale face, returning home from its 

watchings. 

Then it came to pass that a pestilence fell on the 
city. 

Presaged by wondrous signs, and mostly by flocks of 
wild pigeons. 

Darkening the sun in their flight, with naught in 
their craws but an acorn. '^°° 

And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of 
September, 

Flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to a lake 
in the meadow, 

So death flooded life, and, o'erflowing its natural mar- 
gin, 



100 EVANGELINE. 

Spread to a brackish lake the silver stream of exist- 
ence. 

Wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to charm, 
the oppressor; ^^°^ 

But all perished alike beneath the scourge of his 
anger; — 

Only, alas! the poor, who had neither friends nor 
attendants, 

Crept away to die in the almshouse, home of the 
homeless. 

Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows 
and woodlands; — 

Now the city surrounds it; but still, with its gateway 
and wicket ^^^^ 

Meek, in the midst of splendor, its humble walls 
seem to echo 

Softly the words of the Lord: — "The poor ye always 
have with you." 

Thither, by night and by day, came the Sister of 
Mercy. The dying 

Looked up into her face, and thought, indeed, to be- 
hold there 

Gleams of celestial light encircle her forehead with 
splendor, ^^^^ 

Such as the artist paints o'er the brows of saints and 
apostles. 

Or such as hangs by night o'er a city seen at a dist- 
ance. 

Unto their eyes it seemed the lamps of the city celes- 
tial, 

Into whose shining gates erelong their spirits would 
enter. 



EVANGELINE. 101 

Thus, on a Sabbath morn, through the streets, de- 
serted and silent, ^^° 

Wending her quiet way, she entered the door of the 
almshouse. 

Sweet on the summer air was the odor of flowers in 
the garden. 

And she paused on her way to gather the fairest 
among them. 

That the dying once more might rejoice in their fra- 
grance and beauty. 

Then, as she mounted the stairs to the corridors, 
cooled by the east wdnd, ^^'^ 

Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the 
belfry of Christ Church, 

While, intermingled with these, across the meadows 
were wafted 

Sounds of psalms, that were sung by the Swedes in 
their church at Wicaco. 

Soft as descending wings fell the calm of the hour on 
her spirit ; 

Something within her said, "At length thy trials are 
ended;" '''' 

And, with light in her looks, she entered the cham- 
bers of sickness. 

Noiselessly moved about the assiduous, careful attend- 
ants, 

Moistening the feverish lip, and the aching brow, and 
in silence 

Closing the sightless eyes of the dead, and concealing 
their faces, 

Where on their pallets they lay, like drifts of snow 
by the roadside. ^^^ 

Many a languid head, upraised as Evangeline entered, 



102 EVANGELINie, 

Turned on its pillow of pain to gaze while she passed, 
for her presence 

Fell on their hearts like a ray of the sun on the walls 

of a prison. 
And, as she looked around, she saw how Death the 

consoler, 
Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it 

forever. ^^^^ 

Many familiar forms had disappeared in the night 

time; 
Vacant their places were, or filled already by strangers. 

Suddenly, as if arrested, by fear or a feeling of 

wonder. 
Still she stood, with her colorless lips apart, while a 

shudder 
Ran through her frame, and, forgotten, the flowerets 

dropped from her fingers, ^^^^ 

And from her eyes and cheeks the light and bloom 

of the morning. 
Then there escaped from her lips a cry of such terri- 
ble anguish. 
That the dying heard it, and started up from their 

pillows. 
On the pallet before her was stretched the form of an 

old man. 
Long, and thin, and gray were the locks that shaded 

his temples; ^^^° 

But, as he lay in the morning light, his face for a 

moment 
Seemed to assume once more the forms of its earlier 

manhood ; 



EVANGELINE. 103 

So are wont to be changed the faces of those who are 

dying. 
Hot and red on his lips still burned the flush of the 

fever, 
As if life, like the Hebrew, with blood had be- 
sprinkled its portals, ^^'^ 
That the Angel of Death might see the sign, and 

pass over. 
Motionless, senseless, dying, he lay, and his spirit 

exhausted 
Seemed to be sinking down through infinite depths in 

the darkness, 
Darkness of slumber and death, forever sinking and 

sinking. 
Then through those realms of shade, in multiplied 

reverberations, ^^^ 

Heard he that cry of pain, and through the hush that 

succeeded 
Whispered a gentle voice, in accents tender and saint- 
like, 
"Gabriel! O my beloved!" and died away into silence. 
Then he beheld, in a dream, once more the home of 

his childhood; 
Green Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers among 

them, ^^^ 

Village, and mountain, and woodlands; and, walking 

under their shadow, 
As in the days of her youth^ Evangeline rose in his 

vision. 
Tears came into his eyes; and as slowly he lifted his 

eyelids, 
Vanished the vision away, but Evangeline knelt by 

his bedside. 



104 avANGEIylNS. 

Vainly he strove to whisper her name, for the accents 

unuttered ^^™ 

Died on his lips, and their motion revealed what his 

tongue would have spoken. 
Vainly he strove to rise; and Evangeline, kneeling 

beside him, 
Kissed his dying lips, and laid his head on her bosom. 
Sweet was the light of his eyes; but it suddenly sank 

into darkness. 
As when a lamp is blown out by a gust of wind at a 

casement. ^^^ 

All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the 

sorrow. 
All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied 

longing, 
All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of 

patience! 
And, as she pressed once more the lifeless head to her 

bosom, 
Meekly she bowed her own, and murmured, "Father, 

I thank thee!" ''"^ 

Still stands the forest primeval; but far away from 
its shadow. 

Side by side, in their nameless graves, the lovers are 
sleeping. 

Under the humble walls of the little Catholic church- 
yard, 

In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and un- 
noticed. 

Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside 
them, '''^ 



BVANGELINE. 1()5 

Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at 

rest and forever, 
Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer 

are busy. 
Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased 

from their labors. 
Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed 

their journey! 

Still stands the forest primeval; but under the 
shade of its branches ^^^ 

Dwells another race, with other customs and 
language. 

Only along the shore of the mournful and misty 
Atlantic 

Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from 
exile 

Wandered back to their native land to die in its 
bosom. 

In the fisherman's cot the wheel and the loom are 
still busy; ''^" 

Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their 
kirtles of homespun, 

And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's story. 

While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neigh- 
boring ocean 

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail 
of the forest. 



EVANGELINE- 101 



NOTES. 



PART ONE. 
I 

1. A Primeval Forest is one which has not been dis- 
turbed by the axe. 

3. Druids were Celtic priests. Their religious ceremonies 
were carried on in oak groves, the trees being regarded as 
sacred. 

•10. Grand Pre (gran-pra) means large meadow. 

20. Basin of Minas, an arm of the Bay of Fundy. 

25. The Tides in the Bay of Fundy rise to the height of 
60 feeet. What is the ordinary rise of the tide? 

29. Blomidon is a promontory about four hundred feet 
high at the entrance of the Bay of Minas. 

33. The Henries were rulers of France in the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries. 

34. Normandy, a district in northern France bordering 
on the English channel. 

39. KiRTLE, a petticoat. 

49. The Angelus was a bell which called people to 
prayer. What do you know of the painting called "The 
Angelus?" 

57. Real misery was wholly unknown, and benevolence 
anticipated the demands of poverty. Every misfortune was 
relieved, as it were, before it could be felt, without ostentation 
on the one hand and without meanness on the other. It was 
in short, a society of brethren. Abbe Reynal. 

72. Hyssop, a plant. A branch of it could be used like a 
sponge. It was a symbol of purification from sin. 



108 EVANGEIvINE. 

74. Chaplet of Beads, a string of beads used in pray- 
ing. Missal, a prayer book. 

96. SeeLukeXXII, 60, 61. 

111. A Patron Saint was a Saint who was supposed to 
exercise a special care over the people of a town or district. 

115. Lajeunesse (la-zhe-nes'). 

144. There was a a saying among the people that "If the 
sun shines on St. Eulalie's day there will be a good crop of 
apples." It was February 12th. 

II. 

149. The Scorpion is one of the twelve signs of the 
zodiac. The sun enters this sign in late October. 

153. For the reference to Jacob, see Gen. XXXII, 24-30. 

159. The Summer op All-Saints corresponds to our 
Indian Summer. All-Saints day is Nov. 1st. 

170. Plane Tree, a species of sycamore. Xerxes, a 
Persian, admired one of them so much he put a mantle upon 
it and adorned it with jewels. 

209. Burgundy is a section of eastern France famous for 
its fine wines. 

238. The Gaspereau is a river that flows into the Basin 
of Minas, east of Grand Pre. 

242. Glebe, soil. 

249. lyOUiSBURG, BeauSejour (bose' zho5r,) and Port 
Royal were towns which had been taken from the French by 
the British. 

259. The Contract was considered almost as binding as 
a marriage. Remember this. 

260-2. As soon as a young man arrived at the proper age, 
the community built him a house, broke the land about it, 
and supplied him with all the necessaries of life for twelve 



EVANGELINI3. 109 

months. Then he received the partner whom he had chosen, 
and who brought him her portion in flocks. Abbe Reynai,. 

III. 

280. Loup Garou (loo-ga-ro5 ' ) means man-wolf. There 
was a tradition that a man had the power to change himself 
into a wolf to devour children. 

282. Letiche (la-tcsh'). 

293. In sooth, in truth, 

307. A figure with scales in the left hand and a sword in 
the right is sometimes used to represent Justice. 

354. The Curfew was a bell tolled in the evening as a 
signal to put out the fires and go to bed. 

381. See Gen. XXI, 14. 

IV. 

413. The names of two French songs. 

442. The summer solstice is on the 21st of June. The 
sun is then farthest north, being over the Tropic of Cancer. 
It seems to stand still for a short time. 

466. The author contrasts the clamor of the throng and 
the quiet words of Father Felician by referring to rapid strokes 
of the alarm and the quiet, measured strokes of the hour. 

476. See Luke XXIII, 34. 

484. Ave Maria (ah-va-mah-re'-a), a prayer to the Vir- 
gin Mary. 

486. See 2 Kings II, 11. 

507. Sec Exodus XXIV, 29-35. 

V. 

572-3. Parents were separated from children and husbands 
from wives, some of whom have not to this day met again; and 
we were so crowded in the transport vessels that we had 
not even room to lay down, and consequently were prevented 
from carrying with us proper necessaries, especially for the 



110 EVANGEUNE. 

support and comfort of the aged and weak, many of whom 
quickly ended their lives. Petition of the Acadians to 
THE King. 

579. I^EAGUER, an army camp. 

589. See lines 49, 50. 

597. See Acts XXVII-XXVIII. 

604. BenedicitE, bless you. 

631. Nebraska, now known as the Platte River. 

667. Bell or Book, funeral bell, or book of funeral 
service. 

PART TWO. 



674. Savannahs, grassy plains. 

678-9. We have already seen, in this province of Pennsyl- 
vania, two hundred and fifty of our people, which is more than 
half the number that were landed here, perish through misery 
and various diseases. Petition of the Acadians to the 
King. 

705. Coureurs-Des-Bois (koo-rur-da-bwa'), guides. 

707. V0Y.\GEUR (vwa-ya-zlmr,) river boatmen. 

713. To braid St. Catherine's tresses means to remain un- 
married. 

733. Muse, here the Goddess of Song. There were nine 
Muses in all. 

II. 

741. The Beautiful River, the Ohio. 

749. Acadian Coast, districts near the mouth of the 
Mississippi river where many Acadians had settled. 
OpElousas, a district in Ivouisana. 

764. Golden Coast, banks of the Mississippi above New 
Orleans. 

766. Plaquemine (plak-men.) 



EVANGELINE. 1 1 1 

782. Mimosa, a plant which closes its leaves when agi- 
tated. 

807. Atchafalaya (ach-a-fa-li'-ii,) a river in Louisiana. 

815. Wachita (w6sh-e-taw,) a river in Louisiana. 

821. See Genesis XXIII, 10-12. 

856. Tbche (tash,) a bayou. 
St. Maur (san-mor'.) 

879. Bacchantes, followers of Bacchus, God of wine. 

III. 

889. MtSTLETOE, a parasite plant which grows on many 
trees. 

890. YuLE-TiDE, Christmas time. 

952. Adayes (a-da'-yes) town in Texas. 
956. The Fates, three Goddesses who were supposed to 
control human destinies. 

961. Olympus, a mountain of Greece supposed by the 
ancient Greeks to be the home of the Gods. 
970. Ci-DEVANT, (se' -de-van) former. 
984. Natchitoches (nack'-e-tosh,) a district of Louisiana. 
1033. Carthusian, a Monk of an order where only 
occasional speech is permitted. 

1044. Upharsin, divided. See Daniel V, 5-29. 
1054. This was considered a bad omen. 

1063. See Luke XV, 11-32. 

1064. See Matthew XXV, 1-13. 

IV. 

1082. Oregon, the Columbia River. 
Walleway, a branch of the Snake river. 
Owyhee (Owy '-hee) river in same region. 

1083. Wind River Mountains, a chain of the Rocky 
Mountains, in Wyoming. 



112 EVANGELINE. 

1084. Sweet Water Valley, in Wyoming. 
Nebraska, the Platte river. 

1085. FoNTAiNE-Qui-BouT (fon' tan-ke-bo6) a creek in 
Colorado. 

Spanish Sierras, Mountain range in New Mexico. 

1091. Amorphas, a shrub having clusters of blue flowers. 

1095. Ishmael's Children. The Arabs are considered 
descendents of Ishmael. Because of their warlike spirit the 
American Indians have been thought to be descents of Ishmael. 
See Genesis XXI, 14-21. 

1114. Fata Morgana (Fa-ta-M6r-ga'-na,) mirage. 

1139. Mowis (m5'-wes.) 

1167. Black Robe Chief, Jesuit priest at the head of the 
mission, so called because of his black robe. 

1182. SusuRRUS, whisperings. 

1219. Humble Plant, a plant that grows on the prairies 
whose leaves point north and south, thus serving as a guide. 

1241. Moravian Missions. The Moravians are a Chris- 
tian sect noted for their missionary zeal. 

V. 

1256. A number of streets in Philadelphia have the name 
of trees, as Walnut, Chestnut, etc. 

1257. Drya.ds, Goddesses of the woods. 

1288. Sister of Mercy, a member of an order in the 
Roman Catholic church. The members devote their lives to 
works of charity. 

1355. See Exodus XII, 22-23. 



A PLAN OF STUDY 



EVANGELINE 



For Class Work 



W. F. CONOVER. 



CHICAGO: 

A. FLANAGAN, PUBLISHER. 



Copyright 1899 
by W. F. Conover. 



CONTENTS, 



ARGUMENT Page 117 

PART I. 

Introduction "119 

Topics "120 

PART II. 

Introduction " 124 

Suggestive Questions . . . . "125 

Composition Subjects . . . . "141 

PART III. 

Introduction "142 

Spelling Lessons "143 



EVANGELINE. • HV 



ARGUMENT. 



"Evangeline" is usually studied in the seventh 
school year — a time when a somewhat intensive study 
of a piece of literature may be undertaken with profit. 
This poem offers a most delightful introduction into 
the wider realms of literature — an introduction fraught 
with much consequence since the manner of it is like- 
ly to have a considerable bearing on the pupil's fut- 
ure in this subject. It is certainly important that 
the most be made of the opportunity. 

We believe that the common lack of interest and 
effort in school work is often due to an absence of 
definite and visible ends, and of proper directions 
for the reaching of those ends. Pupils do not object 
to work, and hard work, with something tangible. 
What they do object to is groping in the dark for 
something that may turn up^ — which is too frequently 
the case in their study of a piece of literature. Such 
a course may be commendable later, but at this period, 
suggestion and direction are necessary. These are 
furnished by our "Suggestive Questions,'^ which in- 
dicate lines of study and research. 

In the ordinary reading class the work is largely 
done by a few of the brighter pupils. It is quite 
difficult to secure a careful preparation by the whole 
class. It is also difficult to ascertain how well the 



118 EVANGELINE. 

pupils are prepared. The "Suggestive Questions" 
will be found very helpful here. 

Care has been exercised in the division of the sub- 
ject matter that each lesson may, in a sense, be com- 
plete in itself. The lessons are supposed to occupy 
twenty-five or thirty minutes; this, with the nature of 
the subject matter and the number of unfamiliar 
words, determining the length of the lessons. 

The poem is to be studied twice: — 

First, a general survey to get the story and the 
characters clearly in mind. 

Second, a careful study of the text that the beauty 
and richness, the artistic and ethical values of the 
poem may be realized. 

It is obvious that no scheme, however carefully 
wrought out, can in any sense be a substitute for 
earnestness, enthusiasm and sympathy; and careful 
preparation is an absolute essential of all successful 
teaching. With these, it is believed, excellent re- 
sults may be, secured by use of this plan. 

W. F. CONOVER. 

''B" SL School, 

Sail Diego, Cal. 



EVANGELINE. 119 

PART I. 
A GENERAL SURVEY. 

Lesson I. The Author and the Poem. 

Lesso7i II. Acadia and the Acadians. 

Lesson III Discuss the structure of the poem 
and how it should be read. Read. 

Lessons IV-XIII. Read a section each day to 
get the outlines of the story. 

Notice carefully the Topics given on the following 
pages, and be able to tell with what lines each Topic 
begins and ends. In the other Sections make lists of 
Topics, filling out the outlines. Be careful to choose 
the principal Topics and not subordinate ones. 



120 EVANGELINE. 

EVANGELINE— PART I. 
Sec. I. 
Acadia. 

1. Grand Pre. 

2. Benedict Bellefontaine. 

3. Evangeline. 

4. The Home. 

5. Gabriel, Basil, Father Felician. 

6. Childhood of Evangeline and Gabriel. 

7. Manhood and Womanhood. 

Sec. II. 

The Home. 
1. 

2. 

3. 
4. 

5. 
6. 

Sec. III. 
The Interview. 

1. The Notary. 
~ 2. The Argument and Story. 

3. The Betrothal. 

4. The Game. 

5. Departure of Guests. 

6. Evangeline. 





EVANGELINE. 




Sec. IV. 




The Suvtvtons. 


1. 




2. 




3. 




4. 




5. 




6. 




7. 






Sec. V. 




The E^nbarking. 


1. 


Gathering of Goods. 


2. 


Evangeline's Message. 


3. 


Separated. 


4. 


The Camp. 


5. 


Fire. 


6. 


Death of Benedict. 


7. 


Exiled. 



121 



122 EVANGKLINE. 

EVANGEIvINE— PART II. 

Sec. I. 
The Search Begun. 

1. 

2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 

Sec. II. 
On the Mississippi. 

1. The Boatmen. 

2. The Journey. 

3. Forebodings of 111. 

4. The Sleep. 

5. The Bugle. 

6. The Passing. 

7. Evangeline's Dream. 

8. Journey Continued. 

9. Arrival. 

Sec. III. 
Re-union. Search Again. 
1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 
5. 
6. 



EVANGEUNE. 123 



7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 



Sec. IV. 

Search Continued. 

1. The Great West. 

2. Old Camp Fires. 

3. The Shawnee — Confidences. 

4. March Resumed. 

5. The Mission. 

6. Patience. 

7. Rumors. On to Michigan. 

8. Years of Search. 

Sec V. 
Search Ended. 

1. 

2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 



124 EVANGBLINK. 



PART II. 
STUDY OF THE TEXT. 

(1.) Lessons I-XXVII. 

(2.) Composition Subjects. 

The questions on the following pages are intended 
to be suggestive of lines of study. Others of like or 
different import will occur to the teacher. Don't be 
confined to the written questions. Many others will 
be needed to bring out the artistic and spiritual 
values of the poem and to keep the thread of the 
story in mind. 

Pupils are expected to know the meaning of words 
and the particular one the author employs. The 
understanding of a passage often depends on the 
meaning of a single word. (See Part III.) 



EVANGELINE. 125 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS. 

EVANGELINE— PART I. 

Sec. I. 

Introduction. Grand Pre. 
Lesson I, Lines 1 57. 

The author gives us a hint of the nature of his 
narrative. In what lines does he directly refer to it? 
This is a story of what ? What three qualities had 
this thing ? What two pictures does the author con- 
trast, lines 6-15? Why murmuring pines? What 
two parts of one picture, lines 1-5 ? Why compare 
the roe ? In what ways did their lives resemble a 
river ? Why October leaves ? Remember — this is a 
story of what? Its three qualities are what? What 
is the first picture ? In Section I? What quality 
of the people is referred to in line 24? The Acadians 
were engaged in what industry ? Would their lives 
be more peaceful in this than in other lines of labor ? 
Why use reposed, line 32 ? Who was intimately 
associated with all the life of the village? Explain 
lines 52-56 and 57. 

Evangeline. 
Lesson II, Lines 58-81. 

What is the topic of this lesson? Who is also in- 
troduced to us ? Describe. What does the compari- 



126 EVANGELINE. 

son with an oak suggest? What was Evangeline's 
age ? Describe her appearance. What qualities does 
this description show of her ? What was Benedict's 
most marked characteristic? Evangeline's? 

Home and Childhood of Eva7igeline and Gabriel. 
Lesson III, Lines 82-147. 

Why does the author describe the home so care- 
fully? What do we learn of Evangeline, lines 104- 
114? What two characters are here introduced? 
Tell about their childhood days. Note the early at- 
traction of these two for each other. What about the 
wondrous stone ? Have stones such powers ? Evan- 
geline's name (line 144) indicates what? 

Sec II. 

AutuvDi. Evoiing Out-of-doors. In-doors. 
Lesson IV, Lines 148-198. 

What is the season ? What is the sign of the 
scorpion? What season follows? Signs point to 
what? Why should the author refer to signs of a 
hard winter ? What idea does the author reiterate, 
lines 160-175? Note — the author brings up one pic- 
ture after another to impress us in this way. Why ? 
Does he picture the home clearly ? Describe. What 
things of old time life does he mention ? Give topic, 
lines 199-217. Where were the Norman orchards? 
What does the loom suggest ? 



EVANGELINE. 127 

Visitors. The News. Argument. 
Lesson V, Lines 100-247. 

What relations existed between Basil and Bene- 
dict ? How do you know ? Note carefully how the 
talk shows character. How did each view the news ? 
Does the author make many simple statements of 
facts, or does he use much imagery ? Is this so com- 
mon in prose? 

Which v/as the better way of viewing the news? 
Why refer to Louisburg, Beau Sejour and Port Royal? 
Had Basil good reasons for his suspicions? Why 
were the Acadians safer than their fathers? Why 
did Benedict wish to have no fear? What was the 
purpose of the call? What preparations had been 
made for the marriage. 

Sec III. 

The Notary a>id His Story. 
Lesion VI, Lines 2b8^^29. 

A new character in the story. What others have 
we met thus far? In what regard was the Notary 
held? Describe him. Why did the children like 
him? What was the lore of the village? Contrast 
the blacksmith's and the Notary's manner. Explain 
line 2*>9. Does the Notary's story prove his point — 
that Justice finally triumphs? Why? What effect 
upon Basil has the story? Explain lines 328-329. 



128 EVANGELINE. 

Signing the Contract. The Last Good-Night. 
Lesson VII, Lines 3.^0-381. 

What do you learn from line 333? What char- 
acteristic does Benedict show, line 339? Learn 350- 
351. 

Were these marriage papers that were signed? 
What? What three facts of old time life, lines 353- 
368? What are compared, lines 368-371? Why 
should Evangleline feel sad at this time ? Was it 
natural ? How could the star follow her footsteps ? 
Look up reference line 381. 

vSec. IV. 

The Betrothal Feast. The Mandate. 

Lesson VIII, Ijnes 382-45<). 

Was the betrothal feast an important event in 
Grand Pre? So much thought of now? Explain 
385-386. For what purpose were the people gather- 
ing ? How did Acadian life differ from that of to- 
day ? Why was hospitality greater under Benedict's 
roof? Who were some of the principal persons at 
the feast ? Who is now introduced ? Was there a 
peculiar sadness in the occurances of the day ? Why? 

We have three pictures strongly contrasted in 
this, the preceding and the succeeding lessons. Try 
to get a clear idea of each of these three scenes. 
Contrast the feast and the reception of the Mandate. 



KVANGEUNE. 129 

Why refer to the solstice ? What was the immedi- 
ate effect of the news? Then what? Was it a time 
when character would show ? Explain. Who shows 
clearly his temperament ? 

Father Fclician s Rebuke. 
Lesson IX, Lines 460-4Sb. 

(To me, this selection is one of the finest in the 
poem. It is a fine tribute to cJiaracter. We have in 
this and the preceding lesson two pictures in marked 
contrast. Recall the effects the Mandate must have 
had on the pioneers; how we of the class would feel 
if we now received such an order. Think of the 
homes made by long 3^ears of patient toil, the familiar 
and much loved scenes — all that made life dear — 
must be left behind and life begun anew amid strange 
scenes and among strange people. What utter des- 
pai must have possessed them.) 

What scene of wild passion Father Felician met 
when he opened the church door ! Could force have 
quieted this mob ? Could they have been 7nade 
quiet ? Then Father Felician enters, raises his hand 
and stillness reigns. What causes this great change? 
What wisdom does the priest show ? Does he say 
much ? To what does he turn their thoughts ? Wh}- ? 
Who is the "Prince of Peace"? What great char- 
acter in history had a like power over a multitude ? 



130 KVANGEUNE. 

Was it a great thing that the people could say from 
their hearts "O Father, Forgive Them"? Who said 
it before this ? The evening service is held and quiet 
after the storm. How were their souls translated ? 
What is the reference to Elijah? 

Evangeline'' s Service. Shadows. 
Lesson X, Lines 487-523. 

What change here introduced ? Why should it 
come in here ? Any reason except a continuation of 
the story? (A well written play or story has a care- 
ful mixture of pathos and humor. Explain and 
apply.) Note lines 497-499. What was the source 
of Evangeline's great strength of character? Who 
was the prophet ? Has the reference to the Angelus 
any suggestive sadness ? Why graves of the living ? 
Why did the thunder speak to her ? What did it 
suggest ? 

Sec V. 

Gatheri?ig on the Beach. 
Lesson XI, Lines 524-590. 

How long were they in the church ? What was 
the attitude of the Acadians? What happens similarly 
in nature ? What characteristic of woman is shown 
in lines 553-567 ? Compare Evangeline, Gabriel and 



EVANGELINE. 131 

Benedict at this point. Did Evangeline meet her 
father and Gabriel in different ways ? Why ? Did 
she show wisdom in so doing? What turning point 
now comes ? Imagine a different circumstance — how 
would it affect the remainder of the story ? Picture 
the village. Why refer to the waifs of. the tide ? 

The Camp. Biirming Village. 
Lesson XII, Lines 591-635. 

Picture the camp. Why refer to Paul ? What 
was the condition of Benedict? What disposi- 
tion did he show in this trouble? Do you sup- 
pose Basil was affected in the same way ? How do 
an oak and a willow take a storm ? Which is the 
better way ? Who was the oak and who the willow? 
What does Father Felician do ? Does he show dis- 
cernment? Explain 612-615. How many and what 
distinct pictures do you find in the lesson ? Write 
lines 613-620 in your own words and compare. 

Death. Separation. 
Lesson XIII, Lines 636-665. 

What was the effect of the fire on Benedict ? The 
effect of her father's death on Evangeline? What 
does ^'without bell or book" mean? What of nature 
seemed in harmony with the occasion ? What two 
great sorrows came to Evangeline so closely ? Review 
closing incidents and Part One. 



132 EVANGELINE. 

KVANGELINE— PART II. 

Sec. I. 
Landing. Search Begun. 
Lesson XIV, Lines 666-705. 

How long time has elapsed since the embarking ? 
What were the Acadian's Household Gods ? Why 
was the exile without an end? Why should the 
author use this comparison about their scattering? 
Explain fully about the seizing of the hills. What 
was the attitude of many Acadians ? Of Evangeline? 
What is the desert of life ? Why so called ? What 
makes life a desert? Explain fully lines 683-687. 
What was there singular about Evangeline's life? 
What effect had this on her life ? What was the in- 
articulate whisper that came to her ? 

Pressing On. 
Lesson XV, Lines 706-740. 

What is a voyageur? What was Evangeline ad- 
vised to do by her friends ? Should she have fol- 
lowed their advice ? Give reason. What was it to 
braid St. Catherine's tresses? What do you think 
of Evangeline's reply? Learn lines 720-727. Ex- 
plain. What was the funeral dirge which she heard 



EVANGELINE. 133 

What was the voice that replied? What is the Muse? 
Who appeals to it ? How is it to be followed ? 

Sec. II. 

On the River. Forebodings. 

Lesson XVI, Lines 741-789. 

Has the author followed the wanderer's footsteps 
in Sec. 1, Part H? Locate scene pictured in lines 
741-745. How were these people bound together? 
How strongly? Picture the scene in lines 757-765 
clearly. Why Golden Coast? What is a maze? What 
did the moss look like? What is demoniac laughter? 
What purpose does the author serve in bringing in 
this incident? Describe scene in lines 763-7()7. How 
did the exiles feel this night? What about the mi- 
mosa ? What are the hoof-beats of fate ? What effect 
have the hoof-beats ? Was Evangeline in the same 
mood as the others ? Read to line 8o3, and then con- 
sider carefully the scene and events to line 790. 
Study with care. 

Night on the River. The Passing. 
Lesson XVII. Lines 790-841. 

Explain lines 790-7^4 and lines 798-790. Why 
do you suppose the bugle was not heard? What if 
it was? Wh\' did they row at midnight? Why 



134 EVANGELINE). 

does the author bring in something weird again as in 
line 805 ? Note change from night with its weird 
uncertainty to day with its quiet peace and beauty. 
Why refer to Jacob's ladder ? How can you account 
for conditions given in lines 824-5 ? Note that here 
a calm precedes the storm. Who were in the boat 
speeding north ? What was the last we heard of 
Gabriel ? What changes had occurred in his appear- 
ance ? How did he take his lot and disappointment? 
How different from Evangeline ? Does the account 
of the passing seem reasonable? Are such occur- 
ences common in general life ? 

Evangeline s Dream. Arrival. 
Lesson XVIII, Unes S42-887. 

Does it seem reasonable that Evangeline felt 
Gabriel was near? Explain and learn lines 852-4. 
Explain 858. Why Eden of Louisiana? Has Father 
Felician given up to despair on any occasion? What 
kept him from despairing ? Had he despaired how 
would it have affected Evangeline and the story ? 
Note scene in lines 864-868. Does the author here 
give a picture of nature in harmony with a condition 
of mind ? Where ? Find like treatment in this 
section. The mocking bird here reminds one of 
what bird in another scene? Does each seem an 
appropriate part of the picture ? What was the pre- 
lude ? Why were their hearts moved with emotion ? 



EVANGELINE. 135 

Sec. III. 

Meeting Basil. Disappointment. 
Lesson XIX, Lines 888-958. 

Find subject and predicate of first sentence. Des- 
cribe house and surroundings. Would flowers grow 
thus in Acadia ? What was love's symbol ? Why 
sea of flowers? Explain 904-910. Why surf ? Con- 
trast Basil's home in Grand Pre and the one here. 
Explain lines 933. Was Basil's way of breaking the 
news about Gabriel a good one ? Why should she 
be deeply disappointed ? Did Gabriel bear his disap- 
pointment as did Evangeline ? What was the result 
of Evangeline's longing ? Of Gabriel's ? Why a 
fugitive lover? Why fates and streams against him? 
What did Basil mean line ^58 ? 

Re- u n ion and Feast. 
Lesson XX, Lines 959-1020. 

Note here change of scene. Is it from pathos to 
humor or from humor to pathos ? What do you 
gather from lines 9nQ-960 and 964-965 ? From 
961-2 ? Why should they marvel ? Compare con- 
ditions of life in Acadia and in Louisana. What 
familiar fact does Basil show, line 982 ? Why refer 
to King George ? Note the very attractive picture 
Basil draws — almost a picture of Eden. Was there 
an z/ about it, a final word that quite changed the 
shading of the picture ? Is it usually thus ? Were 
the Acadians naturally light-hearted? 



136 EVANGELINB. 

Despair. Hope. On Again. 
Lesson XXI, Lines 1021-1077. 

What effect had this scene on Evangeline ? Why 
should she hear the sounds of the sea ? Why desire to 
leave the merriment ? Explain 1028-1038. Stars are 
here spoken of as God's thoughts — what else has the 
author called them ? Explain 1041-1044. Was the 
evening in harmony with Evangeline's mood? Why 
was it the oaks whispered '^Patience" and not the 
beeches or other trees ? Explain 1059-1061. Who 
were going in quest of Gabriel ? Explain references 
of "Prodigal Son" and "Foolish Virgin" and apply. 
How was Gabriel blown by fate like the dead leaf? 
How long before they found traces of Gabriel? What 
traces ? What news finally ? Where were they 
now? 

Sec IV. 

The Great West. The Shawnee. Conjidences . 
Lesson XXII, Lines 1078-1164. 

What are amorphas? Why describe thus this 
territory? Who were Ishmael's children? Why 
bring out clearly the many dangers to be encountered 
here? What is Fata Morgana? Who was the an- 
chorite monk? Why taciturn? How could they fol- 
low his footsteps? Who were t/ieyf How were 
traces of sorrow and patience visible? Were they 
unusually touched by the Shawnee's story? Why? 
Was it natural for Evangeline and the Shawnee to 



EVANGELINE. 1 37 

be drawn together? What common bond had they? 
What was the effect of Evangeline's story? Were 
the Shawnee's stories appropriate? Were they com- 
forting or disheartening? What was the snake that 
crept into Evangeline's thoughts? Was it lasting? 
What would naturally dispell it? Are people more 
brave at night or in the morning? More cheerful 
when? Why? 

At the Mission. Waitiyig. 
Lessou XXIir, Lines 1165-1205. 

Why Black Robe Chief? Why expect good tid- 
ings at the Mission? What is a rural chapel? What 
were vespers and sussuras? What was the cause of 
the priest's pleasure? Look up Jesuit work in North 
America. Why were the priest's words like snow 
flakes to Evangeline? How did Evangeline receive 
the news? Why should she desire to remain at the 
Mission rather than return to Basil's home? Was 
there an unselfish purpose in her remaining? 

A Long Search. Age. 
Lesson XXIV, Lines 1206-1251. 

How long did Evangeline remain at the Mission? 
What old custom referred to in lines 1212-1214? 
What do you know of old husking bees? Who urged 
patience? The compass flower illustrates what truth? 
Why is life in a true sense pathless and limitless? 
What quality is suggested by the gay, luxuriant 



138 EVANGKLINB. 

flower? By the humble plant? Evangeline leaves 
the Mission to seek Gabriel where? Result? How 
did she spend the following years? Would you think 
from the text here her life was wholly given to the 
thought of Gabriel and to search for him? Why? 
What was the dawn of another life? 

Sec. V. 

Devotion . 
Lesson XXV, Lines 1252-1297. 

Why was Penn an apostle? What city did he 
found? How do the streets echo the names of the 
forest? Who are the Dryads? Why did she feel at 
home here? Does she finally give up hope? Explain 
lines 1270-1275. What made the world look bright 
to her? Does one's state of mind determine to a 
large extent how the world looks? Does the world 
look the same at night and in the morning? When 
are we most likely to see it as it is? Was Gabriel 
forgotten? What were the lessons her life had 
taught her? What became of her love? How did 
she act practically upon her feeling? What was the 
word or the thing that drew her? She shows what 
quality 1291-1293? What is a Sister of Mercy? Why 
had she not joined the Order before? Had she in a 
true sense been a sister of mercy before joining the 
Order? Do you think she regretted the long struggle 
that fitted her so well for this work? 



EVANGELINE. 15'' 

The Pestilence. 
' Lesson XXVI, Lines 12^)8- 134 J. 

How did death flood life? What made the lake 
brackish? Why silver stream? What is the usual 
cause of a pestilence? Why call it a scourge of his 
anger? Where was the almshouse? Where is the 
spot now? This was an opportunity for whom? 
What was the appearance of the sister? What occa- 
sioned it? Is what we are written in our faces? 
What morning did she visit the almshouse? In what 
season? Had she a premonition that her quest was 
ended? Are premonitions common? What was the 
effect of this feeling upon her? AVhy was death a 
consoler? 

The Meeting. 
Lesson XXVII, Lines 134.V14()(). 

While expecting something, was Hvangeline pre- 
pared for the meeting? How did it affect her? How 
did Gabriel appear? What was the cause? What is 
the reference about sprinkling the portals? What 
was Gabriel's condition? What effect had the cry of 
Hvangeline? Did he recognize Evangeline and rea- 
lize she was with him? What came to his mind? 
Did he finally recognize Evangeline? Was this 
recognition a blessing for her? What effect had this 
meeting upon her? How did she express it? Where 
are the lovers supposed to be now? Do you think 
Evangeline's life ended here? 



140 EVANGELINE. 

Scene shifts to where? What has occurred? Does 
the author state that those old scenes of Acadian life 
can now be seen? Where? In lines 1399-1400 is 
there any suggestion as to this story? 

Note. — It would be well at the conclusion of this 
study to spend one or two periods in going over the 
story as a whole that the poem, in its general outline, 
may be better retained in the pupil's mind. 



EVANGELINE. 141 



COMPOSITION SUBJECTS. 

1. Acadian Life. (Contrast with present.) 

2. The Notary. 

3. Character of Gabriel. 

4. Character of Evangeline. 

5. The Betrothal Feast. 

6. The Scene on the Shore. 

7. On the River. (Compare mode of traveling 
with present ones by land and water.) 

8. Home of Basil. (Contrast with the home in 
Acadia.) 

9. The Mission. 

10. The Search and its Reward. 

Select the lines that appeal to you most. 
Select the lines that show the most beautiful sen- 
timent. 

Select the lines that contain the best pictures. 



142 EVANGELINE. 



PART III. 
Spelling and Defining. 

The work of spelling and defining may be carried 
on with the study of the text of the poem, or at 
the conclusion of this study. In the former case 
allow a week or more to pass after using a selection 
as a Reading lesson before studying it as a Spelling 
lesson, that the reading may not degenerate into a 
word-study. 

The words selected are those which should form a 
part of the pupil's vocabulary. The fact that the 
context largely determines the meaning of a word 
should be made clear in this study, and the particu- 
lar meaning the author employs in the poem should 
be required. The pupil's discrimination will at first 
be poor, but he soon develops considerable skill and 
judgment. 



EVANGELINE. 



143 



1. primeval 

2. Druids 

3. eld 

4. prophetic 

5. hoar 

6. caverns 

7. disconsolate 

8. roe 

9. glided 

10. reflecting 

11. adopt 

12. tradition 

13. affliction 

14. endures 

15. patient 

IV 

1. antique 

2. penitent 

3. odorous 

4. meek 

5. innocent 
(). variant 

7. devotion 

8. craft 

9. repute 

10. pedagogue 

11. autumnal 



II 

1. incessant 

2. floodgates 

3. reposed 

4. peasants 

5. thatched 
(5. tranquil 

7. vanes 

8. distaff's 

9. gossiping 

10. reverend 

11. hailing 

12. serenely 

13. belfry 

14. incense 

15. contentment 

V 

1. desolate 

2. tropical 

3. inclement 

4. mantles 

5. hoarded 

6. advent 

7. pious 

8. magical 

9. landscape 

10. consoled 

11. blended 



1. 

2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 



Ill 
stalworth 
stately 
gleamed 
tresses 
sooth 
turret 
hyssop 

8. chaplet 

9. missal 

10. generations 

11. ethereal 

12. confession 

13. benediction 

14. exquisite 

15. envy 

VI 

1. instinct 

2. superbly 

3. ponderous 

4. gestures 

5. fantastic 
(^. fragments 

7. carols 

8. treadles 
0. diligent 

10. monotonous 

11. jovial 



144 




EVANGELINE. 




12. 


expired 


12. 


subdued 


12. content 


13. 


populous 


13. 


arrayed 


13. accustomed 


14. 


wondrous 


14. 


adorned 


14. forebodings 


15. 


valiant 


15. 


surmises 


15. mandate 




VII 




VIII 


IX 


1. 


untimely 


. 1. 


floss 


1. brazen 


2. 


blighted 


2. 


wisdom 


2. emblem 


3. 


bursting 


3. 


supernal 


3. presided 


4. 


lurk 


4. 


languished 


4. corrupted 


5. 


outskirts 


5. 


warier 


5. oppressed 


6. 


anxious 


6. 


ripe 


6. condemned 


7. 


dubious 


7. 


unchristened 


7. convinced 


8. 


scythe 


8. 


doomed 


8. congealed 


9. 


besieged 


9. 


haunt 


9. tankard 


10. 


contract {n.) 


10. 


marvellous 


10. dower 


11. 


glebe 


11. 


lore 


11. contention 


12. 


inkhorn 


12. 


demeanor 


12. manoeuvre 


13. 


rejoice 


13. 


molest 


13. pallid 


14. 


worthy 


14. 


irascible 


14. infinite 


15. 


notary 


15. 


triumphs 


15. breach 




X 




XI 


XII 


1. 


anon 


1. 


clamorous 


1. sonorous 


2. 


curfew 


2. 


hamlets 


2. garlands 


3. 


straightway 


.3. 


holiday 


3. sacred 


4. 


lingered 


4. 


blithe 


4. dissonant 


5. 


reigned 


5. 


jocund 


5. clangor 


6. 


resounded 


6. 


greensward 


0. convened 


7. 


luminous 


7. 


thronged 


7. clement 







] 


3VANGEUNE. 




145 


8. 


ample 


8. 


hospitality 


s. 


grievous 


9. 


spacious 


9. 


betrothal 


9. 


forfeited 


10. 


dower 


10. 


waistcoats 


10. 


transported 


11. 


mellow 


11. 


alternately 


11. 


wail 


12. 


tremulous 


12. 


embers 


12. 


imprecations 


13. 


serenely 


13. 


vibrant 


13. 


distored 


14. 


flitted 


14. 


mingled 


14. 


allegiance 


15. 


Abraham 


15. 


noblest 


15. 


merciless 




XIII 




XIV 




XV 


1. 


chancel 


1. 


mysterious 


1. 


confusion 


2. 


mien 


2. 


splendor 


2. 


thither 


3. 


awed 


3. 


emblazoned 


3. 


thronged 


4. 


clamorous 


4. 


ambrosial 


4. 


imprisoned 


5. 


solemn 


5. 


celestial 


5. 


wayworn 


6. 


accents 


6. 


charity 


6. 


foremost 


7. 


vigils 


7. 


emotion 


7. 


inexhaustible 


8. 


profane 


8. 


meekness 


S. 


sacred 


9. 


compassion 


9. 


gloomier 


9. 


strength 


10. 


assail 


10. 


tenantless 


10. 


submission • 


11. 


rebuke 


11. 


haunted 


11. 


affliction 


12. 


contrition 


12. 


phantoms 


12. 


procession 


13. 


fervent 


13. 


echoed 


13. 


approached 


14. 


translated 


14. 


disconsolate 


14. 


waj'^side 


15. 


ardor 


15. 


keenly 


15. 


mischances 




XVI 




XVII 




XVIII 


1. 


consoling 


1. 


overwhelmed 1 . 


freighted 


2. 


haggard 


) 


terror 


2. 


exile 


3. 


caresses 


3. 


wailed 


3. 


asunder 



146 



EVANGELINE. 



4. unperturbed 

5. mortals 

6. Titan-like 

7. quivering 

8. martyr 

9. dismay 

10. anguish 

11. dawned 

12. skirt (v.) 

13. aspect 

14. affrighted 

15. nethermost 

XIX 

1. voyageur 

2. loyal 

3. tedious 

4. tresses 

5. serenely 

6. illumines 

7. confession 

8. enrich 

9. refreshments 

10. endurance 

11. perfected 

12. rendered 

13. labored 

14. despair 

15. essay {z'.) 



4. swoon 

5. oblivious 

6. trance 

7. multitude 

8. pallid 

9. compassion 

10. landscape 

11. senses 

12. sacred 

13. glare 

14. dirges 

15. embarking 

XX 

1. cumbrous 

2. kith 

3. kin' 

4. few-acred 

5. sombre 

6. turbulent 

7. chutes 

8. emerged 

9. lagoons 

10. wimpling 

11. luxuriant 

12. perpetual 

13. citron 

14. bayou 

15. sluggish 



4. sultry 

5. bleak 

6. despairing 

7. extended 

8. desert 

9. extinguished 

10. consumed 

11. incomplete 

12. lingered 

13. rumor 

14. hearsay 

15. inarticulate 

XXI 

1. corridors 

2. multitudinous 

3. reverberant 

4. mysterious 

5. grim 

6. myriads 

7. resplendent 

8. sylvan 

9. suspended 

10. moored 

11. travelers 

12. extended 

13. pendulous 

14. flitted 

15. regions 



EVANGELINE. 



147 



XXII 

1. countenance 

2. legibly 

3. oblivion 

4. screen 

5. trance 

6. vague 

7. superstition 

8. revealed 
'^.K credulous 

10. reverend 

n. idle 

12. buoy 

13. betrays 

14. illusions 

15. Eden 

XXV 

1. mortals 

2. renowned 

3. triumphal 

4. enraptured 

5. hilarious 

6. marvelled 

7. ci-devant • 

8. domains 

^\ patriarchal 

10. dispensed 

11. profusion 



XXIII 

1. magician 

2. wand 

3. landscape 

4. mingled 

5. inexpressible 

6. delirious 

7. plaintive 

8. roaring 

9. revel 

10. frenzied 

11. Bacchantes 

12. lamentation 

13. derision 

14. prelude 

15. amber 

XXVI 

1. entranced 

2. irrepressible 

3. devious 

4. manifold 

5. Carthusian 

6. inundate 

7. indefinable 

8. measureless 
0. marvel 

10. comet 

1 1 . oracular 



XXIV 

1. garlands 

2. mystic 

3. flaunted 

4. Yule-tide 

5. girded 

6. luxuriant 

7. spacious 

8. symbol 

9. limitless 

10. cordage 

11. arrayed 

12. adverse 

13. vent 

14. misgivings 

15. embarrassed 

XXVII 

1. perpetual 

2. jagged 

3. gorge 

4. emigrant 

5. precipitate 

6. ceaseless 

7. vibrations 

8. amorphas 

9. blast 

10. blight 

11. pinions 



148 



EVANGELINE. 



12. congeals 12. annointed 

13. plougiisliare 13. delicious 

14. accordant 14. fasting 

15. melodious 15. famine 



12. implacable 

13. scaling 

14. taciturn 

15. anchorite 



XXIII 

1 . venison 

2. companions 

3. swarthy 

4. reverses 

5. compassion 

6. mute 

7. dissolving 

8. weird 

9. incantation 

10. phantom 

11. enchanted 

12. enchantress 

13. sombre 

14. audible 

15. indefinite 

XXXI 

1. sylvan 

2. apostle 

3. balm 

4. emblem 

5. fain 

6. appease 



XXIX 



1. towering 

2. crucifix 

3. rural 

4. chapel 

5. intricate 

6. aerial 

7. vespers 

8. swarded 

9. benignant 

10. wigwam 

11. mother-tongue 

12. chase {n.) 

13. submissive 

14. afflicted 

15. betimes 



XXX 

1 . interlacing 

2. mendicant 

3. granaries 

4. pillage 

5. vigorous 

6. magnet 

7. suspended 

8. fragile 

9. limitless 

10. luxuriant 

11. fragrance 

12. hue 

13. perilous 

14. divers 

15. dawn > 



XXXIII 

1. pestilence 

2. presaged 

3. naught 

4. brackish 

5. margin 

6. oppressor 



XXXIV 

1. flowerets 

2. terrible 

3. anguish 

4. assume 

5. portals 

6. exhausted 



7. haunts 7. 

8. molested 8. 

9. descendants ^K 

10. hamlets 10. 

11. illumined 11. 

12. transfigured 12. 

13. abnegation 13. 

14. diffused 14. 

15. aroma 15. 



scourge 


( . 


infinite 


splendor 


8. 


reverberations 


wending 


9. 


sylvan 


corridors 


10. 


vanished 


intermingle 


^dll. 


vainly 


assiduous 


12. 


humble 


pallets 


13. 


ebbing 


languid 


14. 


throbbing 


consolor 


15. 


customs. 



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